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Mimicking the colourful wing scale structure of the Papilio blumei butterfly

Mimicking the colourful wing scale structure of the Papilio blumei butterfly
Mimicking the colourful wing scale structure of the Papilio blumei butterfly
The brightest and most vivid colours in nature arise from the interaction of light with surfaces that exhibit periodic structure on the micro- and nanoscale. In the wings of butterflies, for example, a combination of multilayer interference, optical gratings, photonic crystals and other optical structures gives rise to complex colour mixing. Although the physics of structural colours is well understood, it remains a challenge to create artificial replicas of natural photonic structures1, 2, 3. Here we use a combination of layer deposition techniques, including colloidal self-assembly, sputtering and atomic layer deposition, to fabricate photonic structures that mimic the colour mixing effect found on the wings of the Indonesian butterfly Papilio blumei. We also show that a conceptual variation to the natural structure leads to enhanced optical properties. Our approach offers improved efficiency, versatility and scalability compared with previous approaches4, 5, 6.

1748-3387
511-515
Kolle, Mathias
34b35fb8-1367-42f4-986f-6a74eb150f09
Salgard-Cunha, Pedro M.
4a4a2117-c297-4a4b-affd-280195cf6118
Scherer, Maik R. J.
4770b51a-a46d-4fe1-b2e5-a15480618afd
Huang, Fumin
9651b233-c15e-4a9b-b675-e027ca068d94
Vukusic, Pete
cce74f90-b940-485c-a37f-02e24aeecad5
Mahajan, Sumeet
b131f40a-479e-4432-b662-19d60d4069e9
Baumberg, Jeremy J.
51423b5f-bdb8-4851-8d50-472253ceb12c
Steiner, Ullrich
839dfd85-73db-4125-b9e9-775296f6411f
Kolle, Mathias
34b35fb8-1367-42f4-986f-6a74eb150f09
Salgard-Cunha, Pedro M.
4a4a2117-c297-4a4b-affd-280195cf6118
Scherer, Maik R. J.
4770b51a-a46d-4fe1-b2e5-a15480618afd
Huang, Fumin
9651b233-c15e-4a9b-b675-e027ca068d94
Vukusic, Pete
cce74f90-b940-485c-a37f-02e24aeecad5
Mahajan, Sumeet
b131f40a-479e-4432-b662-19d60d4069e9
Baumberg, Jeremy J.
51423b5f-bdb8-4851-8d50-472253ceb12c
Steiner, Ullrich
839dfd85-73db-4125-b9e9-775296f6411f

Kolle, Mathias, Salgard-Cunha, Pedro M., Scherer, Maik R. J., Huang, Fumin, Vukusic, Pete, Mahajan, Sumeet, Baumberg, Jeremy J. and Steiner, Ullrich (2010) Mimicking the colourful wing scale structure of the Papilio blumei butterfly. Nature Nanotechnology, 5 (7), 511-515. (doi:10.1038/NNANO.2010.101).

Record type: Article

Abstract

The brightest and most vivid colours in nature arise from the interaction of light with surfaces that exhibit periodic structure on the micro- and nanoscale. In the wings of butterflies, for example, a combination of multilayer interference, optical gratings, photonic crystals and other optical structures gives rise to complex colour mixing. Although the physics of structural colours is well understood, it remains a challenge to create artificial replicas of natural photonic structures1, 2, 3. Here we use a combination of layer deposition techniques, including colloidal self-assembly, sputtering and atomic layer deposition, to fabricate photonic structures that mimic the colour mixing effect found on the wings of the Indonesian butterfly Papilio blumei. We also show that a conceptual variation to the natural structure leads to enhanced optical properties. Our approach offers improved efficiency, versatility and scalability compared with previous approaches4, 5, 6.

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Published date: 30 May 2010
Organisations: Faculty of Natural and Environmental Sciences, Chemistry, Molecular Diagnostics & Thereputics

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 340197
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/340197
ISSN: 1748-3387
PURE UUID: cdc31702-dcec-4f6e-938d-b0e6abc8b48c
ORCID for Sumeet Mahajan: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-8923-6666

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Date deposited: 14 Jun 2012 15:44
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:28

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Contributors

Author: Mathias Kolle
Author: Pedro M. Salgard-Cunha
Author: Maik R. J. Scherer
Author: Fumin Huang
Author: Pete Vukusic
Author: Sumeet Mahajan ORCID iD
Author: Jeremy J. Baumberg
Author: Ullrich Steiner

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