Visible and UV coloration in birds: Mie scattering as the basis of color in many bird feathers

Finger, E.

doi:10.1007/bf01140249

Cited by 70 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…Additionally, due to the anisotropic structure of PCs, the observed color depends on the angle of incident light; this phenomenon is known as iridescence 11,12 . 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 3 Mie scattering is another mechanism used to explain coloration in some natural phenomenon [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25] . Incident light scattered by a single scatter results in portions of light within certain frequencies being strongly scattered.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Structural Coloration of Colloidal Fiber by Photonic Band Gap and Resonant Mie Scattering

Yuan

Zhou

Shi

et al. 2015

ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces

114

101

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Because structural color is fadeless and dye-free, structurally colored materials have attracted great attention in a wide variety of research fields. In this work, we report the use of a novel structural coloration strategy applied to the fabrication of colorful colloidal fibers. The nanostructured fibers with tunable structural colors were massively produced by colloidal electrospinning. Experimental results and theoretical modeling reveal that the homogeneous and noniridescent structural colors of the electrospun fibers are caused by two phenomena: reflection due to the band gap of photonic structure and Mie scattering of the colloidal spheres. Our unprecedented findings show promise in paving way for the development of revolutionary dye-free technology for the coloration of various fibers.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In such cases, the light is strongly scattered within a resonant frequency range determined by the properties of a single scatter. Therefore, the randomly arranged scattering results in non-iridescent color [17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25] .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Structural Coloration of Colloidal Fiber by Photonic Band Gap and Resonant Mie Scattering

Yuan

Zhou

Shi

et al. 2015

ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces

114

101

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“…90 nm), low-resolution, two-dimensional slice of a three-dimensional nanostructure, such as aliasing, binning, etc. Nevertheless, most studies of avian structural colours have used twodimensional electron microscopy to characterize their underlying three-dimensional biophotonic nanostructures [3,[7][8][9]14,[17][18][19][21][22][23][24][25]. However, fundamental uncertainty remains about the exact organization of these three-dimensional amorphous feather barb nanostructures.…”

Section: Small Angle X-ray Scattering (Saxs)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Structure and optical function of amorphous photonic nanostructures from avian feather barbs: a comparative small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) analysis of 230 bird species

Saranathan

Forster

Noh

et al. 2012

J. R. Soc. Interface.

142

185

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Non-iridescent structural colours of feathers are a diverse and an important part of the phenotype of many birds. These colours are generally produced by three-dimensional, amorphous (or quasi-ordered) spongy b-keratin and air nanostructures found in the medullary cells of feather barbs. Two main classes of three-dimensional barb nanostructures are known, characterized by a tortuous network of air channels or a close packing of spheroidal air cavities. Using synchrotron small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and optical spectrophotometry, we characterized the nanostructure and optical function of 297 distinctly coloured feathers from 230 species belonging to 163 genera in 51 avian families. The SAXS data provided quantitative diagnoses of the channel-and sphere-type nanostructures, and confirmed the presence of a predominant, isotropic length scale of variation in refractive index that produces strong reinforcement of a narrow band of scattered wavelengths. The SAXS structural data identified a new class of rudimentary or weakly nanostructured feathers responsible for slate-grey, and blue-grey structural colours. SAXS structural data provided good predictions of the singlescattering peak of the optical reflectance of the feathers. The SAXS structural measurements of channel-and sphere-type nanostructures are also similar to experimental scattering data from synthetic soft matter systems that self-assemble by phase separation. These results further support the hypothesis that colour-producing protein and air nanostructures in feather barbs are probably self-assembled by arrested phase separation of polymerizing b-keratin from the cytoplasm of medullary cells. Such avian amorphous photonic nanostructures with isotropic optical properties may provide biomimetic inspiration for photonic technology.

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“…However, its (irregularly) layered construction could contribute to color via constructive (high reflectance) and destructive (low reflectance) interference of selected wavelengths by thin-film interference effects (between materials with different refractive indices), as in a tapetum lucidum. This requires that sufficient light penetrates to the structure (Finger 1995;Prum 2006) and that the layers are appropriately spaced . A gauge of the depth to which light perpendicular to surfaces can penetrate is obtained by calculating reflectance at each keratin-air interface for the bubbles within the (overlying) spongy nanostructured tissue, as estimated by the Fresnel equation:…”

Section: Feather Color Mechanism Of Basal Pigmented Layermentioning

confidence: 99%

Feathers with Ocular Architecture: Implications for Functional and Evolutionary Similarities of Visual Signals and Receptors

Bleiweiss

2009

Evol Biol

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Studies of visual receptors typically assume that only functionally similar structures are relevant to the evolution of complex eyes. This approach ignores growing evidence that different functional classes of organs often share structural and developmental patterns that pertain to biological sameness (deep homology). However, the potential relevance of non-receptor structures to eye evolution remains largely unexplored. An ''ocular'' feather color mechanism is described whose structural and optical features resemble those of chambered, image-forming eyes to a remarkable degree. These similarities include a laterally expanded, domed light receiving surface similar to that of an eye, an encapsulated spongy tissue mass whose coherent light scattering properties in the human-visible (destructive) and ultraviolet (constructive) wavelength ranges resemble those of cornea and lens, intervening spaces such as those with humors, and a laminar pigmented shelf whose structure and optics resemble a mirrored tapetum lucidum found behind many retinas. Fourier analysis and optical principles indicate that ocular structures adhere to the same lighthandling properties regardless of higher function (receptor or signal). The extent to which chambered eyes and ocular feathers have evolved independently is surprisingly equivocal. On the one hand, broad differences in the location, composition, and development of chambered eyes and ocular feather signals suggest convergent evolution on an ocular organization. However, some level of evolutionary parallelism (generative homology) between chambered eyes and ocular feathers is implicated by similarities in constructional materials, tissue development, and signal transduction cascades. Structural, optical, and developmental similarities also occur between more primitive eyes and the colored dermal papillae responsible for avian skin ornamentation. Functional constraints on light-handling requirements, coupled with developmental constraints in high-stress environments on the body surface, may enhance the similar evolutionary outcomes in the different functional setting. Regardless of the mechanistic details, repeated evolution of eye-like structures in different functional settings reveals a biological potential to produce such organs that is much greater than would be inferred from a survey of receptor structures alone.

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Visible and UV coloration in birds: Mie scattering as the basis of color in many bird feathers

Cited by 70 publications

References 5 publications

Structural Coloration of Colloidal Fiber by Photonic Band Gap and Resonant Mie Scattering

Structural Coloration of Colloidal Fiber by Photonic Band Gap and Resonant Mie Scattering

Structure and optical function of amorphous photonic nanostructures from avian feather barbs: a comparative small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) analysis of 230 bird species

Feathers with Ocular Architecture: Implications for Functional and Evolutionary Similarities of Visual Signals and Receptors

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