Influence of structural disorder on the optical properties of 1D natural photonic crystals

Abstract

In the fabrication processes of photonic crystals, structural disorder arises in the synthesised structures from the limitations in the resolution of the synthesis processes. Elucidating the structural-disorder influence helps reducing its optical effects and allows using it in technological applications. Natural photonic structures are interesting examples to investigate due to their resilience to structural defects. The benefit and cost of these defects are so far not understood. In this contribution, we investigated the structural disorder in one-dimensional photonic crystals occurring on the wings of beetles. We performed optical simulations allowing to assess the optical benefit and cost of such disorder.