CVD synthesis of carbon-based metallic photonic crystals

Three-dimensionally periodic nanostructures on the scale of hundreds of nanometers, known as photonic crystals, are attracting increasing interest because of a number of exciting predicted properties. In particular, interesting behavior should be obtainable for carbon-based structures having a dimensional scale larger than fullerenes and nanotubes, but smaller than graphitic microfibers. We show here how templating of porous opals by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) allows us to obtain novel types of graphitic nanostructures. We describe the synthesis of new cubic forms of carbon having extended covalent connectivity in three dimensions, which provide high electrical conductivity and unit cell dimensions comparable to optical wavelengths. Such materials are metallic photonic crystals that show intense Bragg diffraction.