Bio-inspired band-gap tunable elastic optical multilayer fibers.

Mathias Kolle,Peter Vukusic,Joanna Aizenberg,Jeremy J Baumberg,Alfred Lethbridge,Moritz Kreysing

doi:10.1002/adma.201203529

Mathias Kolle, Peter Vukusic + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.201203529

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Abstract

The concentrically-layered photonic structure found in the tropical fruit Margaritaria nobilis serves as inspiration for photonic fibers with mechanically tunable band-gap. The fibers show the spectral filtering capabilities of a planar Bragg stack while the microscopic curvature decreases the strong directional chromaticity associated with flat multilayers. Elongation of the elastic fibers results in a shift of the reflection of over 200 nm.

Highlights

We present the results of the investigation of the hierarchical photonic structure discovered in the seed coat of Margaritaria nobilis fruits, which directly inspired our creation of novel photonic fibers
The natural structure presents two codependent, technologically exploitable features for light and color manipulation: regularity on the nanoscale that is superposed with microscale cylindrical symmetry, resulting in wavelength selective scattering of light in a wide range of directions. This is the foundation for novel soft bioinspired photonic fibers with the spectral filtering capabilities and color brilliance of a planar Bragg stack compounded with a large angular scattering range introduced by the microscale curvature, which decreases the strong directional chromaticity variation usually associated with flat multilayer reflectors
By inducing interference or diffraction, biological photonic structures of a wide structural diversity strongly alter the spectral composition of reflected and transmitted light resulting in the stunning structural colors of many organisms.[17,18]

Summary

Introduction

Knowledge of the interplay between the morphology, composition and optical appearance of biological photonic systems can provide broad inspiration for novel artificial photonic elements.[1,2,3] On occasion, the study of natural photonics yields specific design templates for optical technologies.[4,5,6,7,8,9] To this end, we present the results of the investigation of the hierarchical photonic structure discovered in the seed coat of Margaritaria nobilis fruits, which directly inspired our creation of novel photonic fibers. In M. nobilis fruits the superposition of a microscopic curvature on the nanoscale regularity of the layered structure within each individual seed coat tissue cell combined with the fruit’s overall macroscopic curvature leads to an increased visibility of the reflected structural color across a wide angular range.

Results

Conclusion