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There are a lot of photonic micro- and nano-structures in nature that consist of materials with a low refractive index and that can keep up with artificial structures concerning optical properties like scattering or coloration. This work aims to understand the photonic structures in the silver ant Cataglyphis bombycina, the blue butterfly of genus Morpho, the beetle Entimus imperialis, which shows polarization-dependent reflection, and the white beetle Cyphochilus insulanus. Furthermore, corresponding micro- and nano-structures are fabricated.
Bioinspired models with the same optical properties as the investigated structures are developed and analyzed using geometric optics and finite-difference time-domain calculations. These models are qualitatively and quantitatively compared regarding their optical properties with the original structures and fabricated by direct laser writing. To mimic potential effects of material-based disorder of the natural photonic structures, a cellulose-based resist for direct laser writing is developed and examined.
Conventional resists in direct laser writing can be replaced by a resist containing cellulose derivatives. Here, different combinations of cellulose derivatives, initiators, and solvents are examined. The best performance is observed for a combination of methacrylated cellulose acetate (MACA500), 2-Isopropyl-9H-thioxanthen-9-one (ITX), and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). These resists allow for direction is attained. The achieved cross-linking enables stable three-dimensional structures and, together with the possible resolution, allows to fabricate the model inspired by the white beetle Cyphochilus insulanus in the cellulose-based resist.
The silver appearance of the Cataglyphis bombycina can be completely explained with geometric optics in the prism-shaped hairs that cover its body. The more complex structures of the other three insects use photonic crystal-like material arrangements with a varying amount of disorder. The polarization dependence of the Entimus imperialis arises from a diamond structure inside the scales of the beetle and can be mimicked with a photonic woodpile crystal. The blue butterfly of the genus Morpho and the white beetle Cyphochilus insulanus both can be reduced to disordered Bragg stacks, in which the exact properties are achieved by introducing different amounts of disorder. For Cataglyphis bombycina, Entimus imperialis, and Cyphochilus insulanus, the developed bioinspired models are fabricated using conventional resists in direct laser writing. All models show a qualitative correspondence to the optical properties of the original structures.
The cellulose-based resists enable the use of polysaccharides in direct laser writing and the concepts can be transferred to other polysaccharides, like chitin. The analysis of the different natural photonic structures and the developed bioinspired models reveal a material independence of the structures that allows the fabrication of these models in different transparent materials.
The scales of white beetles strongly scatter light within a thin disordered network of
chitin filaments. There is no comparable artificial material achieving such a high scat-
tering strength within a thin layer of low refractive index material. Several analyses
investigated the scattering but could not explain the underlying concept. Here a model
system is described, which has the same optical properties as the white beetles’ scales
in the visible wavelength range. With some modification, it also explains the behavior
of the structures in the near infrared range. The comparison of the original structure and
the model system is done by finite-difference time-domain calculations. The calcula-
tions show excellent agreement with the beetles’ scales with respect to the reflectance,
the time-of-flight, and the intensity distribution in the far-field.