Cuticle network and orientation preference of photonic crystals in the scales of the weevil Lamprocyphus augustus

This paper reports the structural and optical investigations of the structural colour of the weevil Lamprocyphus augustus. The photonic crystal structure within the weevil's scales was investigated using sequential focused ion-beam milling and scanning electron microscopy imaging. We carefully...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of the Royal Society interface 2018-08, Vol.15 (145), p.20180360
Main Authors: Ebihara, R., Hashimoto, H., Kano, J., Fujii, T., Yoshioka, S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Life Sciences–Physics interface
Photonic Crystal
Structural Colour
Weevil
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:This paper reports the structural and optical investigations of the structural colour of the weevil Lamprocyphus augustus. The photonic crystal structure within the weevil's scales was investigated using sequential focused ion-beam milling and scanning electron microscopy imaging. We carefully analysed the reconstructed three-dimensional structure to determine the unit cell of the photonic crystal. It was found that the cuticle network of the cubic unit cell perfectly matches the previously reported diamond-based network. However, different results were obtained for the crystal orientations of the small crystal domains that comprise the entire photonic crystal structure in the scales: directions are highly preferred along the surface normal of the scale. This finding explains the fact that the scale is almost uniformly coloured despite the multi-domain structure. It is confirmed experimentally and theoretically that the wavelength range of the reflection band corresponds to the gap of the photonic band.
ISSN:1742-5689
1742-5662
DOI:10.1098/rsif.2018.0360