Non-polarizing broadband multilayer reflectors in fish
Open accessAbstract
Dielectric multilayer reflectors that are non-polarizing are an important class of optical device and have numerous applications within optical fibres [1], dielectric waveguides [2] and LEDs [3]. Here we report analyses of a biological non-polarizing optical mechanism found in the broadband guanine-cytoplasm "silver" multilayer reflectors of three species of fish. Present in the fish stratum argenteum are two populations of birefringent guanine crystal, each with their optic axes either parallel to the long axis of the crystal or perpendicular to the plane of the crystal. This arrangement neutralizes the polarization of reflection due the different interfacial Brewster's angles of each population. The fish reflective mechanism is distinct from existing non-polarizing mirror designs [4, 5, 6, 7] with the important feature that there is no refractive index contrast between the low index layers in the reflector and the external environment. It is a mechanism that could be readily manufactured and exploited in synthetic optical devices.
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Structural colors in fish usually result from reflection by guanine crystals inside the scales or skin.
“Indeed, structural colors in fish are not rare, but the colors usually result from the reflection by guanine crystals inside the scales or skin (21, 22), which are obviously missing in the transparent species.”
From Light diffraction by sarcomeres produces iridescence in transmission in the transparent ghost catfish (2023) · cites this paper as [21]
The passage on fish reflectors (section labeled Abstract; page unavailable) says silvery reflections come from guanine-crystal stacks and that many fish have these stacks in the skin or on the inner surface of scales. It does not establish that structural colors in fish generally or usually arise this way; its discussion is specifically about silvery reflectors. (LLM, conf=0.82)
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Research works printed but not linked: 23
- [1]Hart SD External reflection from omnidirectional dielectric mirror fibers Science 2002 296 5567 510 513 11964473
- [2]Yang SH Cooper ML Bandaru PR Mookherjea S Giant birefringence in multi-slotted silicon nanophotonic waveguides Opt. Express 2008 16 11 8306 8316 18545544
- [3]Gessmann T Schubert EF Graff JW Streubel K Karnutsch C Omnidirectional Reflective Contacts for Light-Emitting Diodes IEEE Electron Device Lett 2003 24 10 683 685
- [4]Fink Y A Dielectric Omnidirectional Reflector Science 1998 282 5394 1679 1682 9831553
- [5]Kaminska K Robbie K Birefringent omnidirectional reflector Appl. Optics 2004 43 7 1 7 15015539
- [8]Cronin T Chiou T-H Caldwell R Roberts N Polarization signals in mantis shrimps Proc. SPIE 2009 7461 74610C
- [10]Land M Nilsson D-E Animal Eyes 2002 Oxford Animal Biology Series. University Oxford first edition
- [13]Denton EJ Review Lecture: On the Organization of Reflecting Surfaces in Some Marine Animals Philos. Trans. R. Soc. B-Biol. Sci 1970 258 824 285 313 22408830
- [14]Denton EJ Land MF Mechanism of reflexion in silvery layers of fish and cephalopods Proc. R. Soc. B-Biol. Sci 1971 178 50 43 61 4397267
- [15]McKenzie DR Yin Y McFall WD Silvery Fish Skin as an Example of a Chaotic Reflector Proc. R. Soc. A-Math. Phys. Eng. Sci 1995 451 1943 579 584
- [18]Rowe DM Denton EJ The physical basis of reflective communication between fish, with special reference to the horse mackerel, Trachurus trachurus Proc. R. Soc. B-Biol. Sci 1997 352 1353 531 549
- [19]Land MF The physics and biology of animal reflectors Prog. Biophys. Mol. Biol 1972 24 75 106 4581858
- [21]Born M Wolf E Principles of Optics 1999 40 49 Cambridge University Press Cambridge 7th (expanded) edition
- [22]Greenstein L Nacreous pigments and their properties Proc. Sci. Sec. Toilet Goods Assoc 1966 26 20 26
- [25]Azzam RM Bashara NM Ellipsometry and polarized light 1988 Elsevier Amsterdam paperback edition
- [26]Weber MF Giant Birefringent Optics in Multilayer Polymer Mirrors Science 2000 287 5462 2451 2456 10741958
- [27]Vukusic P Sambles RJ Photonic structures in biology Nature 2003 424 6950 852 855 12917700
- [29]Jen Y-J Biologically inspired achromatic waveplates for visible light Nat. Commun 2011 2 1 363 21694711
- [30]Roberts NW Porter ML Cronin TW The molecular basis of mechanisms underlying polarization vision Philos. Trans. R. Soc. B-Biol. Sci 2011 366 1565 27 37 PMC3049014 21282166
- [31]Temple SE High-resolution polarization vision in a cuttlefish Curr. Biol 2012 22 4 R121 R122 22361145
- [32]Cronin T Shashar N The linearly polarized light field in clear, tropical marine waters: spatial and temporal variation of light intensity, degree of polarization and e-vector angle J. Exp. Biol 2001 204 14 2461 2467 11511661
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Fan, X., Zheng, X., An, T., Li, X., Leung, N., Zhu, B., Sui, T., Shi, N., Fan, T., & Zhao, Q. (2023) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.2219300120 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
- Authors
- Jordan, T. M., Partridge, J. C., & Roberts, N. W.
- Affiliations
- University of Bristol (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Roberts, N. W.
- Venue
- Nature Photonics
- Published
- 2012-10-21
- Volume
- 6
- Issue
- 11
- Pages
- 759-763
- ISSN
- 1749-4885 (ISSN-L)
- 1749-4893
- PMC
- PMC3496938
- OpenAlex
- W2002696770
- Cited by
- 160
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 12 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 14 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 15 · 2016: 9 · 2015: 17 · 2014: 23 · 2013: 8 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 7.70
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- europepmc.org
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Nature Photonics (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Bristol Research (University of Bristol) (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- UWA Profiles and Research Repository (UWA) (submittedVersion)
- Explore Bristol Research (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BB/H01635X/1, BB/G022917/1)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics › Photonic Crystals and Applications
- Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Surfaces, Coatings and Films › Optical Coatings and Gratings
- Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials › Metamaterials and Metasurfaces Applications
- Keywords
- multilayer mirrors, guanine crystals, birefringent crystals, broadband reflection, polarization angle, optical axes
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