Science Nano Art

Discover the hidden beauty of photonics through our collection of microscopic images of colloidal crystals.

The images show colloidal photonic crystals in different stages of colloidal crystallization, with colors known as structural colors that are caused by diffraction (Bragg diffraction).

Opal is the only known naturally occurring colloidal mineral with angle-dependent colors (so-called play-of-color), caused by diffraction (Bragg diffraction).

Opals can now also be produced in the laboratory by sedimentation of monodisperse spherical colloidal silica nanoparticles:

Synthetic Opals & Opaline Materials