Journal
NATURE PHOTONICS
Volume 6, Issue 11, Pages 759-763Publisher
NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
DOI: 10.1038/NPHOTON.2012.260
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Funding
- Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council [BB/G022917/1, BB/H01635X/1]
- Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council [EP/E501214/1]
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research [FA-9550-09-1-0149]
- BBSRC [BB/H01635X/1, BB/G022917/1] Funding Source: UKRI
- Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council [BB/H01635X/1, BB/G022917/1] Funding Source: researchfish
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Dielectric multilayer reflectors that are non-polarizing are an important class of optical device and have numerous applications within optical fibres(1), dielectric waveguides(2) and light-emitting diodes(3). Here, we report analyses of a biological non-polarizing optical mechanism found in the broadband guanine-cytoplasm 'silver' multilayer reflectors of three species of fish. Present in the fish stratum argenteum are two populations of birefringent guanine crystal, with their optical axes either parallel to the long axis of the crystal or perpendicular to the plane of the crystal, respectively. This arrangement neutralizes the polarization of reflection as a result of the different interfacial Brewster's angles of each population. The fish reflective mechanism is distinct from existing non-polarizing mirror designs(4-7) in that, importantly, there is no refractive index contrast between the low-index layers in the reflector and the external environment. This mechanism could be readily manufactured and exploited in synthetic optical devices.
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