Refractive index measurements of double-cylinder structures found in natural spider silks

Little, Douglas; Kane, D. M.

doi:10.1117/12.2052261

Cited by 3 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 10 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The species Argiope keyserlingi and Plebs eburnus have been studied and shown to have high optical quality dragline/radial (i.e. major ampullate) silks [11][12][13][14][15][16][17]. The orb webs of adult ecribellate spiders have radial and capture silks with widths from one to a few micrometres.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A first model for such a spider silk, as an optical element, is a transparent cylinder. In fact, the silks are typically double cylinders lying side by side [16,18]. Thus, in measuring the optical function of spider silks, it is important to take their form into account.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For spiders that have evolved to occupy aerial locations, especially locations of high brightness during the day, it is underappreciated that the silks of ecribellate orb webs (i.e. sticky prey capturing wheel-shaped webs) mostly comprise transparent materials of high optical quality [11][12][13][14][15][16][17]. The species Argiope keyserlingi and Plebs eburnus have been studied and shown to have high optical quality dragline/radial (i.e.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A study of webs under UV light [27] did note that the measurements in [19] may have been affected by the form of the silks in ways that had not been taken into account. The silk of A. keyserlingi has a measured refractive index of approximately 1.55 [14][15][16] and has low absorption in the visible [17]. Treating it as a homogeneous optical material, i.e.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Photoreflectance/scattering measurements of spider silks informed by standard optics

et al. 2020

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The silks of certain orb weaving spiders are emerging as high-quality optical materials. This motivates study of the optical properties of such silk and particularly the comparative optical properties of the silks of different species. Any differences in optical properties may impart biological advantage for a spider species and make the silks interesting for biomimetic prospecting as optical materials. A prior study of the reflectance of spider silks from 18 species reported results for three species of modern orb weaving spiders ( Nephila clavipes, Argiope argentata and Micrathena Schreibersi ) as having reduced reflectance in the UV range. (Modern in the context used here means more recently derived.) The reduced UV reflectance was interpreted as an adaptive advantage in making the silks less visible to insects. Herein, a standard, experimental technique for measuring the reflectance spectrum of diffuse surfaces, using commercially available equipment, has been applied to samples of the silks of four modern species of orb weaving spiders: Phonognatha graeffei , Eriophora transmarina , Nephila plumipes and Argiope keyserlingi . This is a different technique than used in the previous study. Three of the four silks measured have a reduced signal in the UV. By taking the form of the silks as optical elements into account, it is shown that this is attributable to a combination of wavelength-dependent absorption and scattering by the silks rather than differences in reflectance for the different silks. Phonognatha graeffei dragline silk emerges as a very interesting spider silk with a flat ‘reflectance'/scattering spectrum which may indicate it is a low UV absorbing dielectric micro-fibre. Overall the measurement emerges as having the potential to compare the large numbers of silks from different species to prospect for those which have desirable optical properties.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Photoreflectance/scattering measurements of spider silks informed by standard optics

et al. 2020

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Orb web spider silks: how their optics affects potential visibility

Kane¹,

Snowdon²,

Blamires

et al. 2019

AOS Australian Conference on Optical Fibre Technology (ACOFT) and Australian Conference on Optics, Lasers, and Spectroscopy (AC

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Subdiffraction-limited radius measurements of microcylinders using conventional bright-field optical microscopy

Little

Kane

2014

Opt. Lett.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A technique for measuring the radius of dielectric microcylinders with subdiffraction-limited precision is presented. Diffraction fringes arising from the dielectric cylinder are measured using conventional bright-field optical microscopy and compared with theory to deduce the radii. The technique has been demonstrated measuring the radii of the major-ampullate silks from Plebs eburnus spiders. Precision better than 50 nm is demonstrated, using a standard optical microscope with a numerical aperture of 0.6 for the objective. Accuracy was verified using scanning electron microscopy. This technique will facilitate rapid, precise measurement of dielectric microcylinder radii, enabling a new optical-microscopy-based measurement approach for these challenging micro-optics.

show abstract

Refractive index measurements of double-cylinder structures found in natural spider silks

Cited by 3 publications

References 10 publications

Photoreflectance/scattering measurements of spider silks informed by standard optics

Photoreflectance/scattering measurements of spider silks informed by standard optics

Orb web spider silks: how their optics affects potential visibility

Subdiffraction-limited radius measurements of microcylinders using conventional bright-field optical microscopy

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About