Aphrodite's iridescence

Andrew R. Parker, Ross C. McPhedran (), David R. McKenzie, Lindsay C. Botten and Nicolae-Alexandru P. Nicorovici
Additional contact information
Andrew R. Parker: University of Oxford
Ross C. McPhedran: School of Physics, University of Sydney
David R. McKenzie: School of Physics, University of Sydney
Lindsay C. Botten: School of Mathematical Sciences, University of Technology
Nicolae-Alexandru P. Nicorovici: School of Physics, University of Sydney

Nature, 2001, vol. 409, issue 6816, 36-37

Abstract: Abstract The most intense colours displayed in nature result from either multilayer reflectors or linear diffraction gratings1,2,3. Here we investigate the spectacular iridescence of a spine (notoseta) from the sea mouse Aphrodita sp. (Polychaeta: Aphroditidae). The spine normally appears to be deep red in colour, but when light is incident perpendicular to the axis of the spine, different colours are seen as stripes running parallel to the axis of the spine; over a range of smaller incident angles, the complete visible spectrum is reflected with a reflectivity of 100% to the human eye. The simple structure responsible for this effect is a remarkable example of photonic engineering by a living organism.

Date: 2001
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/35051168 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:409:y:2001:i:6816:d:10.1038_35051168

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/35051168

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().