Dynamic 3D Microplasma Photonic Crystal By 3D Printing

Three dimensional microplasma photonic crystal (3D MPPhC) is first time realized through 3D printing method. The layerlayer building method is only one embodiment for building the microstructures to confine the plasma. The 3D MPPhC proposed here for achieving highly tunable and reconfigurable material systems for electromagnetic responses in the millimeter wave or extremely high frequency regimes. The plasma crystal periodic structure arrays confined in the microstructures have been successfully realized within a volume large than 16.25 cm3, for example, can serve as a reconfigurable bandpass filter, beam splitter or router, attenuator, or phase shifter for frequencies up to and beyond 1THz. The mm-wave transmission responses from 110 – 170 GHz have been recorded with the strong responses. The dynamic tunings are demonstrated through the addressability of the microplasma array in three dimensions, including electron density, collisional frequency and crystal latter constants. We believe the capability of controlling the arrays of microplasma as dynamic material in three dimensions, in combination of the isotropic geometry, provide the versatile abilities to control the electromagnetic responses including but not limited to photonic band gap. The details will be introduced in the conference.