Abstract-3D printing of Al2O3 photonic crystals for terahertz frequencies

Carmen Rial Tubio,   José Antonio Novoa,   Jorge Martín,  Francisco Guitian,   José Ramón Salgueiro and   Alvaro Gil  

RSC Adv., 2015, Accepted Manuscript

DOI: 10.1039/C5RA22737B
Received 29 Oct 2015, Accepted 23 Dec 2015
First published online 23 Dec 2015
http://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2015/ra/c5ra22737b#!divAbstract

Reported here is the fabrication and characterization of a three-dimensional photonic crystal for terahertz frequencies based on 3D printing of Al₂O₃. Specific inks containing Al₂O₃, the material required for the structure, are synthesized with the viscosity and rheological properties necessary to be extruded through nozzles of micrometric section. The process is completed by a thermal sintering to obtain compact structures. SEM measurements are performed to evaluate the quality of the structures and measure the geometrical parameters. Finally, the presence of the band gap is demonstrated by THz time-domain spectroscopy.