Reflectance Confocal Microscopy: A Powerful Tool for Large Scale Characterization of Ordered/Disordered Morphology in Colloidal Photonic Structures

The development of appropriate methods
to correlate the structure
and optical properties of colloidal photonic structures is still a
challenge. Structural information is mostly obtained by electron,
X-ray, or optical microscopy methods and X-ray diffraction, while
bulk spectroscopic methods and low resolution bright-field microscopy
are used for optical characterization. Here, we describe the use of
reflectance confocal microscopy as a simple and intuitive technique
to provide a direct correlation between the ordered/disordered structural
morphology of colloidal crystals and glasses, and their corresponding
optical properties.