Calcitic Prisms of The Giant Seashell Pinna Nobilis Form Light Guide Arrays

The shells of the Pinnidae family are based on a double layer of single-crystal-like calcitic prisms and inner aragonitic nacre, a structure known for its outstanding mechanical performance. However, on the posterior side, shells are missing the nacreous layer, which raises the question of whether t...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Advanced materials (Weinheim) 2023-09, Vol.35 (39), p.e2304166-e2304166
Main Authors: Amini, Shahrouz, Zhu, Tingting, Biswas, Abin, Charsooghi, Mohammad Avalin, Kim, Kyoohyun, Reber, Simone, Dauphin, Yannicke, Fratzl, Peter
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Blurring
Engineering Sciences
Light reflection
Materials
Materials science
Mechanical properties
Moving object recognition
Optical fibers
Optical properties
Prismatic components
Prisms
Shells
Spatial resolution
Tracking
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The shells of the Pinnidae family are based on a double layer of single-crystal-like calcitic prisms and inner aragonitic nacre, a structure known for its outstanding mechanical performance. However, on the posterior side, shells are missing the nacreous layer, which raises the question of whether there can be any functional role in giving up this mechanical performance. Here, it is demonstrated that the prismatic part of the Pinna nobilis shell exhibits unusual optical properties, whereby each prism acts as an individual optical fiber guiding the ambient light to the inner shell cavity by total internal reflection. This pixelated light channeling enhances both spatial resolution and contrast while reducing angular blurring, an apt combination for acute tracking of a moving object. These findings offer insights into the evolutionary aspects of light-sensing and imaging and demonstrate how an architectured optical system for efficient light-tracking can be based on birefringent ceramics.
ISSN:0935-9648
1521-4095
DOI:10.1002/adma.202304166