An optically transparent Ag nanorods/AAM composite film was prepared by AC electrodeposition of Ag within the nanoporous anodic alumina membrane (AAM). Because the incident light excited different surface plasmon resonance modes along different directions, the composite film displayed an optical anisotropy for the rod-shape of Ag particles. Its three-order nonlinear optical properties were measured by z-scan technique, and the values of |Rev(3)| and |Imv(3)| were about 2.6028

Composite materials containing both ferroelectric and ferromagnetic phases have been synthesized from nanometer-sized pow-ders of BaTiO3 (ferroelectric phase) and NiCuZn ferrite (ferromagnetic phase) by a standard ceramic method. The coexistence of magnetic and electric hysteresis in the composite material has been observed at room temperature. Upon the application of magnetic and electric fields, the magnetization and electric polarization of the composite material can easily be tuned based on the changing BaTiO3 content of the materials studied. These composite materials exhibit both xcellent dielectric and soft-mag-netic properties with a variation of the frequency. Our results strongly suggest that this composite material may be the best can-didate for the development of truly integrated passive filters. Due to the combination of both inductance and capacitance in one material, the adoption of an integrated passive filter could greatly reduce the size of printed circuit boards and could effi-ciently suppress electromagnetic interference, thereby enabling significant miniaturization of electronic elements and devices.

SiO2 colloid crystal infilled with BaTiO3 was synthesized by a process of self-assembly in combination of a sol-gel technique. It is found that infilling of the fully crystallized BaTiO3 into the colloid assembly can enhance the photonic band gap significantly. In the vicinity of the ferroelectric phase transition point of BaTiO3 (100-150℃), the photonic band gap of the assembly exhibits a strong temperature dependence. At the Curie point, the band gap has a 20nm redshift, and the optical transmittance reaches its minimum. Such a temperature-tuning effect in the photonic band gap should be of high interest in device applications.

ZnS: Mn has been in-filled in photonic crystals of submicron polymer spheres. The effect of the photonic band gap on the photoluminescence (PL) properties of ZnS: Mn has been investigated. Because of the overlap of the transmission dip of the photonic crystal and the photoluminescence band of ZnS: Mn, both suppression and enhancement in the PL of the phosphor have been observed. A strong dependence of the fluorescence lifetime on the emission wavelength in the range of the stop band has been found. This strong dependence is believed to arise from the very low photon density of state within the stop band of the ZnS: Mn in-filled photonic crystal as result of a high dielectric contrast between ZnS: Mn and the polystyrene spheres.

(Pb,La) (Zr,Ti)O3 (PLZT) inverse opal photonic crystals were synthesized by a process of self-assembly in combination with a sol-gel technique. In this process, PLZT precursors were infiltrated into the interstices of the opal template assembled by monodisperse submicron polystyrene spheres, and then gelled in a humid environment. Polystyrene template was removed by calcining the specimen at a final temperature of 700℃ accompanied with the crystallization of perovskite phase in PLZT inverse opal network. Scanning electron microscope images show that the inverse opals possess a fcc structure with a lattice constant of 250nm. A wide photonic band gap in the visible range is observed from transmission spectra of the sample. Such PLZT inverse opals as photonic crystals should be of importance in device applications.