Diamond-lattice photonic crystals assembled from DNA origami

TL;DR

This paper reports the creation of 3D photonic crystals with a diamond lattice structure assembled from DNA origami, enabling tunable photonic band gaps in the near-ultraviolet range.

Contribution

It introduces a novel DNA origami-based method to assemble diamond lattice photonic crystals at visible light scales, previously difficult to achieve.

Findings

Successfully assembled diamond lattice from DNA origami tetrapods.

Achieved a periodicity of 170 nm suitable for visible light applications.

Demonstrated a tunable photonic band gap in the near-ultraviolet.

Abstract

Colloidal self-assembly allows rational design of structures on the micrometer and submicrometer scale. One architecture that can generate complete 3D photonic band gaps is the diamond cubic lattice, which has remained difficult to realize at length scales comparable to the wavelength of visible or ultraviolet light. Here, we demonstrate three-dimensional photonic crystals self-assembled from DNA origami that act as precisely programmable patchy colloids. Our DNA-based nanoscale tetrapods crystallize into a rod-connected diamond cubic lattice with a periodicity of 170 nm. This structure serves as a scaffold for atomic layer deposition of high refractive index materials such as TiO$_2$, yielding a tunable photonic band gap in the near-ultraviolet.