Surface-Guided Crystallization of Xanthine Derivatives for Optical Metamaterial Applications

Angelica Niazov-Elkan, Margarita Shepelenko, Lotem Alus, Miri Kazes, Lothar Houben, Katya Rechav, Gregory Leitus, Anna Kossoy, Yishay Feldman, Leeor Kronik, Peter G. Vekilov*, Dan Oron*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

5 Citations (Scopus)
77 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Numerous bio-organisms employ template-assisted crystallization of molecular solids to yield crystal morphologies with unique optical properties that are difficult to reproduce synthetically. Here, a facile procedure is presented to deposit bio-inspired birefringent crystals of xanthine derivatives on a template of single-crystal quartz. Crystalline sheets that are several millimeters in length, several hundred micrometers in width, and 300–600 nm thick, are obtained. The crystal sheets are characterized with a well-defined orientation both in and out of the substrate plane, giving rise to high optical anisotropy in the plane parallel to the quartz surface, with a refractive index difference Δn ≈ 0.25 and a refractive index along the slow axis of n ≈ 1.7. It is further shown that patterning of the crystalline stripes with a tailored periodic grating leads to a thin organic polarization-dependent diffractive meta-surface, opening the door to the fabrication of various optical devices from a platform of small-molecule based organic dielectric crystals.

Original languageEnglish
Article number2306996
JournalAdvanced Materials
Volume36
Issue number8
DOIs
Publication statusPublished Online - 29 Nov 2023

Funding

Financial support by the ERC Advanced Grant BoX‐BOOM (No. 101096020) and by the Minerva foundation was gratefully acknowledged. A.E. acknowledged support from the Weizmann Institute “Advancing Women in Science” postdoctoral fellowship program. D.O. is the incumbent of the Harry Weinrebe Professorial Chair of Laser Physics. L.K. thanked the Aryeh and Mintzi Katzman Professorial Chair and the Helen and Martin Kimmel Award for Innovative Investigation. L.H. acknowledges the support of the Irving and Cherna Moskowitz Center for Nano and Bio‐Imaging at the Weizmann Institute of Science.

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • General Materials Science
  • Mechanics of Materials
  • Mechanical Engineering

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