1. A process for the production of homogeneously packed opal-like or inverse opal-like sphere-based crystals comprising:
(a) adding a sufficient amount of a suspension of monospheres having a particle size of 20 nanometers to 30 microns to a flat moving bed porous filtration membrane so as to form a layer thickness on the flat moving bed of 50 microns to 5 mm;
(b) moving the monospheres on the moving bed filtration membrane substantially horizontally over a vacuum filtration zone, and applying a sufficient substantially constant vacuum filtration pressure to the monospheres to obtain crystalline homogeneously packed monospheres;
(c) processing the packed monospheres for stabilization, said processing comprising heating andor chemically bonding the crystalline packed monospheres.
2. A process according to claim 1, wherein processing of the packed monospheres for stabilization comprises infiltrating the packed monospheres with a chemical bonding agent.
3. A process according to claim 2, wherein the infiltrating step is accomplished while the packed monospheres are moving on the vacuum bed filtration membrane and while a vacuum filtration pressure is being applied to the packed monospheres.
4. A process according to claim 2, further comprising curing the chemical bonding agent.
5. A process according to claim 1, wherein the monospheres comprise SiO2.
6. A process according to claim 1, wherein the monospheres comprise a polymeric material.
7. A process according to claim 1, for the production of inverse opal-like sphere based crystals wherein
in step (c) the packed monospheres are processed for stabilization by infiltrating the packed monospheres with a bonding agent; and further comprising
(d) removing the monospheric material to obtain an inverse opal-like structure comprising air-spheres.
8. A method according to claim 7, wherein the infiltrating step is accomplished while the packed monospheres are moving on the vacuum bed filtration membrane and while a vacuum filtration pressure is being applied to the packed monospheres.
9. A process according to claim 7, wherein the bonding agent comprises SiO2, Al2O3, TiO2, SnO2, Fe2O3, ZrO2, CeO2 or Y2O3.
10. A process according to claim 6, wherein the polymeric material comprises polystyrene, polymethacrylate, or polyvinyltoluene.
11. A process according to claim 1, wherein the suspension has a concentration of monospheres of 2\u201350% by weight of solids.
12. A process according to claim 11, wherein the concentration is 10% to 20% by weight.
13. A process according to claim 1, wherein the vacuum pressure is about 400 to about 600 mm Hg.
14. A process according to claim 11, wherein the vacuum pressure is about 400 to about 600 mm Hg.
15. A process according to claim 12, wherein the vacuum pressure is about 400 to about 600 mm Hg.
16. A process according to claim 1, wherein the monospheres have a particle size in the range of 100 nanometers to 10 microns.
17. A process according to claim 14, wherein the monospheres have a particle size in the range of 150\u2013450 nanometers.
18. A process according to claim 1, wherein the monospheres are deposited in a layer thickness of about 200 microns to 1 millimeter.
19. A process according to claim 16 wherein monospheres are deposited in a layer thickness of about 200 microns to 1 millimeter.
20. A process according to claim 17, wherein monospheres are deposited in a layer thickness of about 200 microns to 1 millimeter.
21. A process according to claim 1, wherein the pores of the porous filtration membrane is equal to or slightly smaller than the spheres to be filtered.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. An optical recording medium, wherein at least two optical recording layers are stacked with an interlayer therebetween; and wherein
said interlayer is comprised of at least one substantially uniform layer of ultraviolet curing resin film that is formed on a separate mataterial layer prior to contacting either of the optical recording layers.
2. An optical recording medium as set forth in claim 1, wherein said interlayer is a film obtained by curing a stacked structure including at least one layer of ultraviolet curing resin film and at least one layer of a coating film of an ultraviolet curing liquid resin composition.
3. An optical recording medium as set forth in claim 1, wherein an uneven shape corresponding to a recording pit or a guide groove is formed into said interlayer.
4. An optical recording medium as set forth in claim 2, wherein an uneven shape corresponding to a recording pit or a guide groove is formed into said coating film of an ultraviolet curing liquid resin composition.
5. An optical recording medium, wherein at least two optical recording layers are stacked with an interlayer therebetween; and wherein
said interlayer is comprised of at least one layer of ultraviolet curing resin film that is formed on a separate material layer prior to contacting either of the optical recording layers, the layer of ultraviolet curing resin having a thickness variation of less than +\u22121 \u03bcm.
6. An optical recording medium, wherein at least two optical recording layers are stacked with an interlayer therebetween; and wherein
said interlayer is comprised of at least one layer of ultraviolet curing resin film that is approximately 75% or more of a total thickness for the interlayer, the remaining portion of the interlayer being substantially comprised of liquid resin.
7. The optical recording medium according to claim 6, wherein said interlayer has a thickness variation of less than +\u22121 \u03bcm.