| Abstract
| - Herein we report experimental and theoretical analysis of the optical properties of planarized self-assembled colloidal photonic crystals confined within rectangular microchannels. A detailed mapping ofthe optical features, performed by microspectroscopy, is presented, providing evidence that spherical colloidsconfined in microchannels crystallize as single-domain colloidal crystal several hundreds of microns longwith a very low concentration of intrinsic defects. A study of defective colloidal crystals is also made toillustrate this point. The effect of the different parameters affecting the reflection properties of thesestructures, such as crystal size, orientation, and nature of the substrate, is also analyzed. We show thatthe well-defined geometry and dimensions of the channels serve to template colloidal crystals with precisesize, shape, and orientation, which imply accurate control of their photonic crystal properties.
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