Double scattering of light from biophotonic nanostructures with short-range order

Abstract

We investigate the physical mechanism for color production by isotropic nanostructures with short-range order in bird feather barbs. While the primary peak in optical scattering spectra results from constructive interference of singly-scattered light, many species exhibit secondary peaks with distinct characteristic. Our experimental and numerical studies show that these secondary peaks result from double scattering of light by the correlated structures. Without an analog in periodic or random structures, such a phenomenon is unique for short-range ordered structures, and has been widely used by nature for non-iridescent structural coloration.

10 pages, 4 figures

Cited by in corpus (4)

• Absence of Red Structural Color in Photonic Glasses, Bird Feathers and Certain Beetles
• Effects of multiple scattering on angle-independent structural color in disordered colloidal materials
• Ewald sphere construction for structural colors
• Role of short-range order in manipulating light absorption in disordered media