Journal
JOURNAL OF OPTICS
Volume 18, Issue 6, Pages -Publisher
IOP PUBLISHING LTD
DOI: 10.1088/2040-8978/18/6/065105
Keywords
Morpho butterfly; polymer replication; bioinspired photonic crystals; photonic nanostructures; structural color
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Funding
- National Science Foundation [DMR-1243590]
- University of the South
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The brilliant blue coloration of the Morpho rhetenor butterfly originates from complex nanostructures found on the surface of its wings. The Morpho butterfly exhibits strong short-wavelength reflection and a unique two-lobe optical signature in the incident (theta) and reflected (phi) angular space. Here, we report the large-area fabrication of a Morpho-like structure and its reproduction in perfluoropolyether. Reflection comparisons of periodic and quasi-random 'polymer butterfly' nanostructures show similar normal-incidence spectra but differ in the angular theta-phi dependence. The periodic sample shows strong specular reflection and simple diffraction. However, the quasi-random sample produces a two-lobe angular reflection pattern with minimal specular refection, approximating the real butterfly's optical behavior. Finite-difference time-domain simulations confirm that this pattern results from the quasi-random periodicity and highlights the significance of the inherent randomness in the Morpho's photonic structure.
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