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Disordered animal multilayer reflectors and the localization of light

Multilayer optical reflectors constructed from ‘stacks’ of alternating layers of high and low refractive index dielectric materials are present in many animals. For example, stacks of guanine crystals with cytoplasm gaps occur within the skin and scales of fish, and stacks of protein platelets with...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Jordan, T. M., Partridge, J. C., Roberts, N. W.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: The Royal Society 2014
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4223918/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25339688
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2014.0948
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author Jordan, T. M.
Partridge, J. C.
Roberts, N. W.
author_facet Jordan, T. M.
Partridge, J. C.
Roberts, N. W.
author_sort Jordan, T. M.
collection PubMed
description Multilayer optical reflectors constructed from ‘stacks’ of alternating layers of high and low refractive index dielectric materials are present in many animals. For example, stacks of guanine crystals with cytoplasm gaps occur within the skin and scales of fish, and stacks of protein platelets with cytoplasm gaps occur within the iridophores of cephalopods. Common to all these animal multilayer reflectors are different degrees of random variation in the thicknesses of the individual layers in the stack, ranging from highly periodic structures to strongly disordered systems. However, previous discussions of the optical effects of such thickness disorder have been made without quantitative reference to the propagation of light within the reflector. Here, we demonstrate that Anderson localization provides a general theoretical framework to explain the common coherent interference and optical properties of these biological reflectors. Firstly, we illustrate how the localization length enables the spectral properties of the reflections from more weakly disordered ‘coloured’ and more strongly disordered ‘silvery’ reflectors to be explained by the same physical process. Secondly, we show how the polarization properties of reflection can be controlled within guanine–cytoplasm reflectors, with an interplay of birefringence and thickness disorder explaining the origin of broadband polarization-insensitive reflectivity.
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spelling pubmed-42239182014-12-06 Disordered animal multilayer reflectors and the localization of light Jordan, T. M. Partridge, J. C. Roberts, N. W. J R Soc Interface Research Articles Multilayer optical reflectors constructed from ‘stacks’ of alternating layers of high and low refractive index dielectric materials are present in many animals. For example, stacks of guanine crystals with cytoplasm gaps occur within the skin and scales of fish, and stacks of protein platelets with cytoplasm gaps occur within the iridophores of cephalopods. Common to all these animal multilayer reflectors are different degrees of random variation in the thicknesses of the individual layers in the stack, ranging from highly periodic structures to strongly disordered systems. However, previous discussions of the optical effects of such thickness disorder have been made without quantitative reference to the propagation of light within the reflector. Here, we demonstrate that Anderson localization provides a general theoretical framework to explain the common coherent interference and optical properties of these biological reflectors. Firstly, we illustrate how the localization length enables the spectral properties of the reflections from more weakly disordered ‘coloured’ and more strongly disordered ‘silvery’ reflectors to be explained by the same physical process. Secondly, we show how the polarization properties of reflection can be controlled within guanine–cytoplasm reflectors, with an interplay of birefringence and thickness disorder explaining the origin of broadband polarization-insensitive reflectivity. The Royal Society 2014-12-06 /pmc/articles/PMC4223918/ /pubmed/25339688 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2014.0948 Text en http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ © 2014 The Authors. Published by the Royal Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, which permits unrestricted use, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Articles
Jordan, T. M.
Partridge, J. C.
Roberts, N. W.
Disordered animal multilayer reflectors and the localization of light
title Disordered animal multilayer reflectors and the localization of light
title_full Disordered animal multilayer reflectors and the localization of light
title_fullStr Disordered animal multilayer reflectors and the localization of light
title_full_unstemmed Disordered animal multilayer reflectors and the localization of light
title_short Disordered animal multilayer reflectors and the localization of light
title_sort disordered animal multilayer reflectors and the localization of light
topic Research Articles
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4223918/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25339688
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2014.0948
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