title: Detailed electromagnetic simulation for the structural color of butterfly wings.
abstract: Many species of butterflies exhibit interesting optical phenomena due to structural color. The physical reason for this color is subwavelength features on the surface of a single scale. The exposed surface of a scale is covered with a ridge structure. The fully three-dimensional, periodic, finite-difference time-domain method is used to create a detailed electromagnetic model of a generic ridge. A novel method for presenting the three-dimensional observed color pattern is developed. Using these tools, the change in color that is a result of varying individual features of the scale is explored. Computational models are developed that are similar to three butterflies: Morpho rhetenor, Troides magellanus, and Ancyluris meliboeus.
authors.affiliation: School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, USA. todd.lee@gatech.edu
authors.forename: R Todd
authors.initials: RT
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Glenn S
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Smith
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002080:Butterflies / Q000502:physiology*; D003116:Color; D003124:Colorimetry / Q000379:methods*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D004574:Electromagnetic Fields; D008954:Models, Biological; D012031:Refractometry; D014921:Wings, Animal / Q000502:physiology*