Photonics &
materials science

ABSTRACT: Hydrogenated amorphous silicon microspheres feature a pronounced phononic peak around 2000 cm-1 when they are thermally excited by means of a blue laser. This phononic signature corresponds to vibrational modes of silicon-hydrogen bonds and its emitted light can be coupled to Mie modes defined by the spherical cavity. The signal is apparently quite stable at moderate excitation intensities although there appeared some signs pointing to hydrides bonds reconfiguration and even hydrogen emission. Above a certain excitation threshold, a phase change from amorphous to poly-crystalline silicon occurs that preserves the good structural quality of the microspheres.

ABSTRACT: The human brain is one of the most complex and intriguing scientific topics. The most established theory on neuronal communication is a pure electrical model based on the propagation of intracell cationic charges along the neurons. Here we propose a complementary model based on two properties of brain communication: A) The Coulomb interaction associated to the Action Potential (AP) pulse induces a deformation of the neuron membrane which travels as an acoustic signal, i.e.: The ions play an essential role and the electric and acoustic signals, composing the AP, are strongly correlated. B) As brain communication is stablished through a periodic train of AP pulses it induces a time periodic modulation of the acoustic parameters. In this framework we propose envisaging the neuron as a temporal electro-acoustic medium. The temporal varying media framework could help understanding brain conundrums such as propagation routes involved in the neuronal plasticity in the consolidation of the memory, as well as on the generation of the signals associated to the brain field theory.

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ABSTRACT: Silicon microspheres with a diameter in the range of 2–3 micrometers constitute photonic nanocavities that emit light through their Mie resonances when heated at high temperatures. At 500–600 °C these microresonators show a particular mid-infrared (MIR) emission dominated by the lowest order modes. Such resonances feature a large free spectral range, about 600 cm−1, and a high proximity to the critical coupling condition. In fact, resonances with high-quality factor, around 160 are found. It corresponds to the limit of detection of their measuring setup, being 600 the theoretical value. Most importantly, several modes emit light above the calculated blackbody limit because they feature an optical absorption cross-section larger than their geometric one. All these characteristics set silicon microspheres as very promising zero-dimensional materials for developing micrometric and sub-wavelength light sources in the MIR.

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ABSTRACT: A precise knowledge of the optical properties, specifically the refractive index, of organic/inorganic perovskites, is essential for pushing forward the performance of the current photovoltaic devices that are being developed from these materials. Here we show a robust method for determining the real and the imaginary part of the refractive index of MAPbBr₃ thin films and micrometer size single crystals with planar geometry. The simultaneous fit of both the optical transmittance and the photoluminescence spectra to theoretical models defines unambiguously the refractive index and the crystal thickness. Because the method relies on the optical resonance phenomenon occurring in these microstructures, it can be used to further develop optical microcavities from perovskites or from other optical materials.

ABSTRACT: We study light transmission and reflection from an integrated microresonator device, formed by a circular microresonator coupled to a bus waveguide, with an embedded S-shaped additional crossover waveguide element that selectively couples counter-propagating modes in a propagation-direction-dependent way. The overall shape of the device resembles a “taiji” symbol, hence its name. While Lorentz reciprocity is preserved in transmission, the peculiar geometry allows us to exploit the non-Hermitian nature of the system to obtain high-contrast unidirectional reflection with negligible reflection for light incident in one direction and a significant reflection in the opposite direction.

ABSTRACT: Planck’s law constitutes one of the cornerstones in physics. It explains the well-known spectrum of an ideal blackbody consisting of a smooth curve, whose peak wavelength and intensity depend on the temperature of the body. This scenario changes drastically, however, when the size of the emitting object is comparable to the wavelength of the emitted radiation. Here we show that a silicon microsphere (2–3 μm in diameter) heated to around 800 °C yields a thermal emission spectrum consisting of pronounced peaks that are associated with Mie resonances. We experimentally demonstrate in the near-infrared the existence of modes with an ultrahigh quality factor, Q, of 400, which is substantially higher than values reported so far, and set a new benchmark in the field of thermal emission. Simulations predict that the thermal response of the microspheres is very fast, about 15 μs. Additionally, the possibility of achieving light emission above the Planck limit at some frequency ranges is envisaged.

ABSTRACT: High refractive index nanowires are very attractive because of their waveguiding properties and their multiple applications. In this sense, metal halide perovskites, an emerging and appealing optoelectronic material, have also been tailored into nanowire structures. Here, we present an easy, low-cost and versatile method that has made possible to achieve nanowires of controlled and uniform width. The method has been applied here to all-inorganic and hybrid lead bromide perovskite (CsPbBr3 and CH3NH3PbBr3 respectively) materials. The procedure is based on the spin coating of precursors solutions, at room temperature, on a PDMS replica of the periodic grooves and lands of commercially available Compact Disc (CD) or Digital Versatile Disc (DVD) polycarbonate plates. The method can be applied for the synthesis of other material nanowires before being transferred onto other substrates. The obtained CsPbBr3 and CH3NH3PbBr3 nanowires exhibit high photoluminescence and guiding light properties along the material.

ABSTRACT: We make use of a phase-sensitive set-up to study the light transmission through a coupled waveguide-microdisk system. We observe a splitting of the transmission resonance leading to an unbalanced doublet of dips. The experimental data are analyzed by using a phasor diagram that correlates the real and the imaginary parts of the complex transmission. In addition, detailed features are evidenced by a complex inverse representation of the data that maps ideal resonances into straight lines and split resonances into complicated curves. Modeling with finite element method simulations suggests that the splitting and the unbalance is caused by an induced chirality in the propagation of the optical fields in the microdisk due to the interplay between the stochastic roughness and the intermodal dissipative coupling, which yield an asymmetric behavior. An analytical model based on the temporal coupled mode theory shows that both a reactive and a dissipative coupling of the counter-propagating modes by the surface roughness of the ring resonator are required to quantitatively reproduce the experimental observations and the numerical simulations.

ABSTRACT: The authors report on a free-space interferometer for simultaneous phase and transmittance measurements of an optical signal in an integrated photonic circuit during degenerate pump-and-probe experiments. Differentiation of the weak probe signal from the strong pump relies on a lock-in amplifier. The interferometer shows high flexibility in terms of operating wavelengths, tested devices, and optical powers; it works with any integrated optical device provided with optical input-output channels; it can operate both with high input power (up to 100 mW at the sample input port) and low output power (<1 µW at the detection stage). Measuring both the transmittance and the phase of the optical signal allows using the phasor representation in the analysis. A dynamic operating mode allows to perform power and/or wavelength scan of the input signal, obtaining transmittance and phase spectra of the tested device. Remote control of the system and insulation from the external environment brings to more stable operating conditions. Characterization of the system properties with photonic-integrated structures (waveguide and ring resonator) is reported, with observed phase stability as high as 0.25°/min and average phase noise below 1°.

ABSTRACT: Synthesis and studies of single crystals of hybrid perovskite are important for achieving a better understanding of the optoelectronic phenomena occurring in this material and for improving ongoing applications. Here, we report on the growth of micrometer-size single crystals of methylammonium lead bromide (MAPbBr3) using the spin coating deposition method on a quartz substrate. We studied the influence of the rotation speed and the use of three different additives N-cyclohexyl-2-pyrrolidone, dimethyl sulfoxide, and 4-tert-butylpyridine on the crystal size and shape. The introduction of an additive in the precursor solution is revealed to be very useful for obtaining crystals with well-defined geometries and for decreasing the amount of defects. In this way, high-quality single crystals that sustain optical resonating modes were obtained and characterized by transmittance and photoluminescence measurements.

ABSTRACT: A procedure for the one-step preparation of films of few-layer N-doped graphene on top of nanometric hexagonal boron nitride sheets ((N)graphene/h-BN) based on the pyrolysis at 900 °C under an inert atmosphere of a film of chitosan containing about 20 wt% of ammonium borate salt as a precursor is reported. During the pyrolysis a spontaneous segregation of (N)graphene and boron nitride layers takes place. The films were characterized by optical microscopy that shows a thin graphene overlayer covering the boron nitride layer, the latter showing characteristic cracks, and by XPS measurements at different monitoring angles from 0° to 50° where an increase in the proportion of C vs. B and N was observed. The resulting (N)graphene/h-BN films were also characterized by Raman, HRTEM, SEM, FIB-SEM and AFM. The thickness of the (N)graphene and h-BN layers can be controlled by varying the concentration of precursors and the spin coating rate and is typically below 5 nm. Electrical conductivity measurements using microelectrodes can cause the burning of the graphene layer at high intensities, while lower intensities show that (N)graphene/h-BN films behave as capacitors in the range of positive voltages.

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ABSTRACT: We report on the modeling, simulation, and experimental demonstration of complete mode crossings of Fano resonances within chip-integrated microresonators. The continuous reshaping of resonant lineshapes is achieved via nonlinear thermo-optical tuning when the cavity-coupled optical pump is partially absorbed by the material. The locally generated heat then produces a thermal field, which influences the spatially overlapping optical modes, allowing us to alter the relative spectral separation of resonances. Furthermore, we exploit such tunability to continuously probe the coupling between different families of quasi-degenerate modes that exhibit asymmetric Fano interactions. As a particular case, we demonstrate a complete disappearance of one of the modal features in the transmission spectrum as predicted by Fano [Phys. Rev. 124, 1866 (1961)]. The phenomenon is modeled as a third-order nonlinearity with a spatial distribution that depends on the stored optical field and thermal diffusion within the resonator. The performed nonlinear numerical simulations are in excellent agreement with the experimental results, which confirm the validity of the developed theory.

ABSTRACT: Coupling of light to and from a microdisk resonator is a crucial step for the integration of this photonic structure in a photonic integrated circuit. However, the most common lateral coupling scheme, based on a point contact with a coplanar bus waveguide, suffers from strong wavelength dependence. This is a limiting factor for exciting efficiently the resonant modes in a broad spectral region. In the present paper, we propose a solution based on a different configuration, known as vertical coupling configuration, where a bus waveguide is buried below the microdisk. We demonstrate theoretically and experimentally that the long interaction region provided by this geometry allows to extend the optimal coupling spectral range from IR to visible. This feature constitutes a remarkable advantage over the usual laterally coupled devices for many different applications, such as frequency conversion, allowing bandwidth limitations to be significantly diminished.

ABSTRACT: Parametric frequency conversion via four-wave mixing (FWM) in silicon nanocrystal (Si NC) waveguides is observed at 1550 nm. To investigate the role of Si NC, different types of waveguides containing Si NC in a SiO₂ matrix were fabricated. Owing to the increase of the dipole oscillator strength mediated by the quantum confinement effect, the non-linear refractive index (n₂) of Si NCs is found to be more than one order of magnitude larger than the one of bulk Si. Coupled differential equations for the degenerate FWM process taking into account the role of Si NC were numerically solved to model the experimental data. The modeling yields an effective n₂ for Si NCs in SiO₂ waveguides which is similar to the one of Si waveguides. We also measured a large signal to idler conversion bandwidth of ∼22 nm. The large non-linear refractive index is joined with a large two photon absorption coefficient which makes the use of Si NC in non-linear optical devices mostly suitable for mid-infrared applications.

ABSTRACT: Silicon Photonics is the technological to face the future challenges in data communications and processing. This technology follows the same paradigm as the technological revolution of the integrated circuit industry, that is, the miniaturization and the standardization. One of the most important building blocks in Silicon Photonics is the microresonator, a circular optical cavity, which enables many different passive and active optical functions. Here, we will describe the new physics of the intermodal coupling, which occurs when multi radial mode resonators are coupled to waveguides, and of the optical chaos, which develops in coupled sequence of resonators. In addition, an application of resonators in the label-free biosensing will be discussed.

ABSTRACT: Silicon nanocrystals (Si-nc) are reviewed here for their interesting optical applications. On the one hand, they do exhibit quantum confinement effects. This allows turning silicon into a light-emitting material where luminescence can be excited by electrical injection. On the other hand, small sizes, large surfaces, and dielectric mismatch between the core and the surrounding matrix increase dramatically the nonlinear optical coefficients. This allows using Si-nc as a nonlinear material in different waveguide configurations. In this paper, we discuss specifically two different applications of Si-nc: (i) as a nonlinear material in various devices, e.g., in bistable optical cavities, in waveguide optical mode monitors that are based on two-photon excited luminescence detection, and in wavelength shifters by using four-wave mixing (FWM); (ii) as an entropy source for quantum random number generation, the key device for cryptography.

ABSTRACT: In this paper, we report on the measurement and modeling of enhanced optical refractometric sensors based on whispering gallery modes. The devices under test are optical microresonators made of silicon nitride on silicon oxide, which differ in their sidewall inclination angle. In our approach, these microresonators are vertically coupled to a buried waveguide with the aim of creating integrated and cost-effective devices. Device modeling shows that the optimization of the device is a delicate balance of the resonance quality factor and evanescent field overlap with the surrounding environment to analyze. By numerical simulations, we show that the microdisk thickness is critical to yield a high figure of merit for the sensor and that edge inclination should be kept as high as possible. We also show that bulk-sensing figures of merit as high as 1600 RIU⁻¹ (refractive index unit) are feasible.

ABSTRACT: Photoluminescence (PL) from Si nanocrystals (NCs) excited by two-photon absorption (TPA) has been observed in Si nanocrystal-based waveguides fabricated by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition. The TPA excited photoluminescence emission resembles the one-photon excited photoluminescence arising from inter-band transitions in the quantum confined Si nanocrystals. By measuring the non-linear transmission of waveguides, a large TPA coefficient of β up to 10⁻⁸ cm/W has been measured at 1550 nm. These values of β depend on the Si NCs size and are two orders of magnitude larger than the bulk silicon value. Here, we propose to use the TPA excited visible PL emission as a tool to map the spatial intensity profile of the 1550 nm propagating optical modes in multimode waveguides. In this way, multimode interference has been revealed experimentally and confirmed through a finite elements simulation.

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ABSTRACT: We report on a joint theoretical and experimental study of an integrated photonic device consisting of a single-mode waveguide vertically coupled to a disk-shaped microresonator. Starting from the general theory of open systems, we show how the presence of a neighboring waveguide induces a reactive intermode coupling in the resonator, analogous to an off-diagonal Lamb shift in atomic physics. Observable consequences of this coupling manifest as peculiar Fano line shapes in the waveguide transmission spectra. The theoretical predictions are validated by full vectorial three-dimensional finite-element numerical simulations and are confirmed by the experiments.

ABSTRACT: We report on the generation of chaotic signals in sequences of integrated coupled silicon resonators at telecommunication wavelengths. These can pave the way to on chip all optical random bit generators naturally compatible with silicon photonics.

ABSTRACT: We report on the observation of optical bistability in an integrated planar microresonator with embedded silicon nanocrystals (Si-ncs). The phenomenon originates from the thermo-optical modulation of the silica-embedded Si-ncs refractive index, which in turn alters the spectral position of the resonator mode. The estimated thermo-optical coefficient of the Si nanocrystalline material, dn/dT ≈ 2.92 × 10⁻⁵ K⁻¹, is an order of magnitude lower than that of bulk silicon. Both time-resolved pump-and-probe experiments and numerical simulations confirm that the silica host is responsible for the heat dissipation from the resonator. Moreover, a negligible Q-factor degradation at pump powers as high as 100 mW, along with the absence of a fast component in time-resolved measurements, confirm the minute contribution from excited carriers effects. These observations, combined with the already published large third-order nonlinearities of Si-ncs (an order of magnitude larger than in bulk Si), make this system an outstanding candidate for low-power on-chip nonlinear comb generation.

ABSTRACT: Silicon is widely used in electronics and solar cell devices because of its excellent semiconductor properties. Also, the large refractive index value of silicon enables the development of photonic devices. Here, we present a protocol to fabricate monodispere spherical colloids made of silicon with diameters between 300 nm and 500 nm. We also report on a home-built confocal microscope we have developed for the optical characterization of the nanoparticles. The optical characterization tool allows for optical properties of tiny particles and structure as small as 250 nm to be obtained. The results reported in the associated publications demonstrate silicon colloids sustain well-defined Mie resonances with a magnetic response suitable for processing metamaterials and photonic crystals.

ABSTRACT: Typical UHQ resonators, microspheres and microtoroids, lack the possibility of integration into lightwave circuits due to their planarity constrains. In this context, CMOS-compatible alternatives in the form of wedge resonators have been proposed. However, the mode retraction from the wedge cavity inhibits the possibility to side couple with integrated waveguides and therefore, halts the full integration within a planar lightwave circuit. In this work, we propose and demonstrate experimentally the complete integration of wedge resonators with vertically coupled dielectric bus waveguides. This coupling scheme permits to use arbitrary gaps, geometries and materials, enables simplified and precise control of the light injection into the cavity and opens the door to an industrial mass-fabrication of UHQ resonators.

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ABSTRACT: We report on the realization and characterization of a silicon-based integrated optical platform which implements a vertical coupling scheme between a Whispering-gallery type microresonator and a buried dielectric waveguide. The vertical coupling allows for the separation of the resonator and the waveguide into different planes, which enables the realization of the optical components in different materials/thicknesses. The high optical quality of this micro-optical system follows from the accurate planarization of the waveguide topography, which is achieved by multiple depositions-and-reflows of a borophosphosilicate glass over strip waveguides. Importantly, we demonstrate the feasibility of our approach for wafer-scale mass fabrication of freestanding planar resonators suspended in air and coupled to integrated bus waveguides. This opens the door for the realization of stable all-integrated resonator systems and it has the potential to substitute todays complicated fiber-taper coupling schemes.

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ABSTRACT: We have recently developed a new type of porous silicon we name as porous silicon colloids. They consist of almost perfect spherical silicon nanoparticles with a very smooth surface, able to scatter (and also trap) light very efficiently in a large-span frequency range. Porous silicon colloids have unique properties because they behave as optical microcavities with a high refractive index and their intrinsic photoluminescence emission is coupled to the optical modes of the microcavity, resulting in a unique luminescence spectrum profile.

ABSTRACT: We report on the realization and characterization of a silicon-based integrated optical platform which implements a vertical coupling scheme between a Whispering-gallery type microresonator and a buried dielectric waveguide. The vertical coupling allows for the separation of the resonator and the waveguide into different planes, which enables one to realize the optical components in different materials/thicknesses. The high optical quality of this cavity micro-optical system follows from the accurate planarization of the waveguide topography, which is achieved by multiple depositions-and-reflows of a borophosphosilicate glass over strip waveguides. Importantly, we demonstrate the feasibility of our approach for wafer-scale mass fabrication of freestanding planar resonators suspended in air and coupled to integrated bus waveguides. This opens the door for the realization of stable all-integrated resonator systems for optomechanical and metrological applications and has the potential to substitute today’s complicated fiber-taper coupling schemes.

ABSTRACT: La fotonica integrata in silicio ha permesso di realizzare reti ottiche integrate in pochi mm² con velocità di trasmissione dati di più di 1 Tbps. Per poterne ampliare ulteriormente lo spettro di funzionalità ed applicazioni, a Trento applichiamo il paradigma delle nanotecnologie. Grazie alle nuove proprietà risultanti dal confinamento spaziale di portatori di carica (Nanosilicio) e di fotoni (Nanofotonica), abbiamo dimostrato una serie di funzionalità aggiuntive alla fotonica in silicio. Queste hanno permesso di realizzare amplificatori ottici, risonatori ottici, diodi elettroluminescenti, celle solari a resa elevata, biosensori biocompatibili e biodegradabili, interruttori tutti ottici superveloci, nodi di reti ultradensi, instradatori interferometrici, ed altro ancora.

ABSTRACT: We have recently developed a new type of silicon structure that we refer to as a silicon colloid. This new material consists of almost perfectly spherical silicon micro- and nanoparticles with a very smooth surface. They are able to trap light very efficiently in a large-span frequency range covering the visible to the far infrared regions. Silicon colloids can be thought of as a completely new material for scientific and technological purposes, with manifold applications covering electronics, photonics, cosmetics, or paints, among others. Here, we report on the synthesis of polycrystalline, amorphous, and porous silicon colloids, as well as their optical properties, some applications concerning light filters, and photonic bonding.

ABSTRACT: Here, we show that the PL emission of a single porous silicon colloid is strongly coupled to the WGM's of the microcavity defined by the colloid itself, resulting in a unique PL spectrum with a high quantum yield. This spectrum depends on two factors: the colloid size, and the porosity value. The PL spectrum constitutes, therefore, a fingerprint of the particle.

ABSTRACT: We present a laboratory experiment that allows undergraduate or graduate students to get introduced to colloidal crystal research concepts in an interesting way. Moreover, such experiments and studies can also be useful in the field of crystallography or solid-state physics. The work concerns the growth of colloidal crystal thin films obtained from the crystallization of a latex colloidal solution in a wedge cell. Depending on the thickness of the sample, microcrystals with different structures and orientation are obtained. Colloidal arrangements are studied by scanning electronic microscopy images of the top and edge views of several areas of the crystals.

ABSTRACT: This chapter reviews the crystal order of colloidal suspensions as hard spheres when confined in wedge type cells with flat walls. This type of cell allows the study of colloidal crystal growth transitions between one and n monolayers.

ABSTRACT: Porous silicon microspheres have been synthesized by chemical vapour deposition of disilane gas. Their spectral signatures are similar to those of electrochemically grown porous silicon, in particular they yield photoluminescence and they show an oxidation behaviour upon their exposure to the open air. The particles are highly spherical and poly-disperse in size with diameters of approximately 0.5 to 5 micrometres, and they have a very smooth surface. Because of these reasons they work as optical microcavities with well defined resonating Mie modes. These modes have been identified in the near-infrared range. They blue-shift considerably whenever the microspheres are in contact with air because of the aforementioned oxidation process.

ABSTRACT: The influence of patterned surfaces on the formation of one- and two-dimensional colloidal crystals is analyzed. We have used the corrugated surface of a digital versatile disc (DVD) for template surface processing. When the sphere diameter is on the order of the groove width of patterned substrates, a rich variety of particle decorations appear. However, if particle size is much larger than template patterns, large domains of particle ordering are formed.

ABSTRACT: This paper investigates the sequence of morphological transitions in a nearly hard particle arrangement of colloidal crystals confined in a wedge cell. Earlier studies have shown intermediate particle arrangements (such as the buckling, rhombic, prismatic, and hcp-like phases) to account for the drastic changes in the filling fraction values between the triangular and square arrangements. However, to the best of our knowledge, there is no complete description of the transitions between n and n + 1 layers. Here we describe the ordering of the particles for films between 1 and 4 layers. We also present a new intermediate phase hcp(011) to show the transition between triangular and square arrangements for n > 2 layers.

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ABSTRACT: A TiO2 film having photonic sponge architecture (ps-TiO2) has been prepared using titania Degussa P25 nanoparticles that have been infiltrated into a template obtained through the arrangement of a mixture of different size latex spheres. The resulting photonic sponge exhibits 3.3-fold higher initial photocatalytic degradation rate for succinonitrile disappearance than analogous films of the same thickness made of unstructured P25 TiO2 nanoparticles. When corrected for the threefold lower mass of the ps-TiO2 films with respect to more dense P25, the enhancement of the photocatalytic activity by the photonic sponge morphology for the same mass of photocatalyst is about one order of magnitude. It was also observed that films of photonic sponge of 3 μm depth are more efficient than thicker films (5 and 7 μm).

ABSTRACT: This paper investigates the sequence of morphological transitions in a nearly hard sphere arrangement confined in a wedge cell. A model that shows smooth transitions between the different particle orderings for a small range of confinement is proposed. The hcp-like phase appears as a general adaptive structure in the transitions between two and six layers.

ABSTRACT: Here we study different approaches for increasing energy harvesting in titania based photoelectrochemical solar (PES) cells. We study the light harvesting of PES cells when photonic crystal and photonic sponge architectures are used. We also report on the influence of the surface corrugation of the metal electrode on the harvesting of photocarriers in solar cells.

ABSTRACT: We have developed a quasi-fractal colloidal crystal to localize efficiently photons in a very broad optical spectral range; it has been applied to prepare dye sensitized photoelectrochemical solar (PES) cells able to harvest very efficiently photons from the ultraviolet (UV) and the visible (VIS) regions of the solar spectrum.

ABSTRACT: This Letter investigates the influence of finite size effects on the particle arrangement of thin film colloidal crystals. A rich variety of crystallographic faceting with large single domain microcrystallites is shown. Optical reflectance experiments together with scanning electron microscopy permit the identification of the crystal symmetry and the facet orientation, as well as the exact number of monolayers. When the cell thickness is not commensurable with a high symmetry layering, particles arrange themselves in a periodic distribution of (111)- and (100)-orientated face centered cubic (fcc) microcrystallites separated by planar defects. These structures can be described as a fcc ordering orientated along a vicinal surface, modified by a periodic distribution of fcc (111) stacking faults.

ABSTRACT: Photonic crystal structures, that present strong light localization effects near photonic band gap frequency regions, can be very useful to maximize chemical processes of phototoactive materials. One example is the use of photonic crystals to improve solar energy harvesting in photoelectrochemical solar cells. Here, we describe the optical monitoring synthesis of macroporous materials, with inverse opal topology, made of transition metal and rare-earth oxide nanoparticles. Through the optical properties we can obtain information concerning both infiltration and over layer growth. Finally, we report on the efficiency improvement of photoelectrochemical cells when titania inverse opal topology is used.