4/2008

Cover picture

The cover illustration depicts control

of the apparent emission color of a

fluorescent protein infiltrated in three-

dimensional periodic nanostructures

known as photonic crystals. The color of

the protein is modified by changing the

crystals’ structural features rather than

by chemically modifying the protein

chromophore. By increasing the lattice

parameter of the photonic crystal the

emitted color changes from orange—

when photonically unmodified — to red

to green. The change in color results

from the redistribution of light emission

around the stop band of the photonic

crystal. These results are an example of

‘‘biophotonic engineering’’, wherein

biological systems are manipulated with

a new set of nanophotonic tools that

expand on the existing and well-known

biological tools. For more information,

please read the Full Paper ‘‘Color

Control of Natural Fluorescent

Proteins by Photonic Crystals’’ by

V. Subramaniam, W. L. Vos, et al.

beginning on page 492.