Bioinspired artificial photonic nanoarchitecture using the elytron of the beetleTrigonophorus rothschildi variansas a ‘blueprint’

Abstract

An unusual, intercalated photonic nanoarchitecture was discovered in the elytra of Taiwanese Trigonophorus rothschildi varians beetles. It consists of a multilayer structure intercalated with a random distribution of cylindrical holes normal to the plane of the multilayer. The nanoarchitectures were characterized structurally by scanning electron microscopy and optically by normal incidence, integrated and goniometric reflectance measurements. They exhibit an unsaturated specular and saturated non-specular component of the reflected light. Bioinspired, artificial nanoarchitectures of similar structure and with similar properties were realized by drilling holes of submicron size in a multilayer structure, showing that such photonic nanoarchitectures of biological origin may constitute valuable blueprints for artificial photonic materials.

Flexible, Angle‐Independent, Structural Color Reflectors Inspired by Morpho Butterfly Wings

“…Indeed, it is this disorder, not the exact shape of the reflecting elements, that is critical for reproducing the angle‐independent iridescence (see SI, Figure S2). In fact, such disorder has been reported to play an important role in other biological, or bioinspired photonic nanostructures as well 33, 34. More importantly, they all arise spontaneously during the single, simple deposition step without any complicated lithography or other sample‐preparation steps.…”

Bio-Inspired Photonic Structures: Prototypes, Fabrications and Devices

“…Under thick film coating, the hybrid structure is found not to inherit the 'Christmas-tree' structures but develop a 'Pyramid-like' structures which have potential applications in light trapping [99]. With the complex photonic structures (multilayer plus 2D amorphous structures) of beetles Trigonophorus rothschildi varians as 'blueprints', the artificial counterpart which is fabricated by FIB etching holes through a 5×SiO/SiGe multilayer structure show similar optical features like non-specularity and only slightly angle-dependent reflectance [98]. Further bio-inspired work is undergoing which is stimulated by a recent revealed 3D architecture [102], aiming at the ultra-negative angular dispersion of diffraction and potential novel dispersive optical elements.…”

“…Besides the main categories, some other bio-inspired photonic applications are also reported [96][97][98][99][100]. For examples, the natural scales of Morpho sulkowskyi are extremely sensitive to the different environmental vapors, which lead to dramatically improved responses as units of potential sensor applications compared with that of current devices [101].…”

Color Changes Upon Cooling of Lepidoptera Scales Containing Photonic Nanoarchitectures, and a Method for Identifying the Changes

“…An enormous variety of photonic structures can be found in nature. Butterflies, beetles ( Ghiradella and Butler 2009 ; Seago et al 2009 ; Shawkey et al 2009a ; Srinivasarao 1999 ; Biró et al 2010 ), and even plants ( Vigneron et al 2005a ; Glover and Whitney 2010 ) exhibit these kinds of structures. It has recently been shown that in certain species, such as the sexually dichromatic species Hypolimnas bolina , females prefer conspecific males that possess bright, iridescent blue/ultraviolet dorsal ornamentation ( Kemp 2007 ) so that the “quality” of the photonic nanoarchitectures is well preserved from generation to generation.…”