Cubical photonic structures by means of ion beam assisted robotic assembly

Fabrication of tailored photonic structures with sufficient precision is a major topic in photonics since decades. However, until now, the assembly of photonic structures in order to control light propagation in all three spatial dimensions remains challenging. This paper presents a reliable approach for fabricating three-dimensional structures consisting of individually stacked colloidal particles. The combination of a robotic dual-probe setup inside a scanning electron microscope and the purposeful use of ion beam based etching and deposition techniques allows to fabricate on-demand three-dimensional photonic structures with cubic geometry. The advantages and limits of this technique are highlighted with respect to further application scenarios.