Special Issue: Soft Photonic Crystals and Metamaterials

https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15228096

Soft matters include polymers, liquid crystals, colloids, biological tissues, and many smart materials. Weak molecular interactions make them sensitive to tiny mechanical, thermal, electric, optical, and other external stimuli. Photonic applications often require soft materials with significant or, in some cases, extreme optical dispersion and non-linear and anisotropic properties. The optical response can be structurally amplified in two fairly distinct scales that are wavelength-comparable periods of soft photonic crystals and subwavelength-graded soft photonic metamaterials.