title: Shedding light on diatom photonics by means of digital holography.
abstract: Diatoms are among the dominant phytoplankters in the world's oceans, and their external silica investments, resembling artificial photonic crystals, are expected to play an active role in light manipulation. Digital holography allowed studying the interaction with light of Coscinodiscus wailesii cell wall reconstructing the light confinement inside the cell cytoplasm, condition that is hardly accessible via standard microscopy. The full characterization of the propagated beam, in terms of quantitative phase and intensity, removed a long-standing ambiguity about the origin of the light confinement. The data were discussed in the light of living cell behavior in response to their environment.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Microelectronics and Microsystems, National Council for Research, Via P. Castellino 111, I-80131 Naples, Italy; Rowland Institute, Harvard University, 100 E. Land Boulevard, 02142 Cambridge MA, USA.
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Di Caprio
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Coppola
authors.forename: Luca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: De Stefano
authors.forename: Mario
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: De Stefano
authors.forename: Alessandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Antonucci
authors.forename: Roberta
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Congestri
authors.forename: Edoardo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: De Tommasi
mesh_terms: D000388:Air; D002470:Cell Survival; D003593:Cytoplasm; D017377:Diatoms / Q000166:cytology*; D006696:Holography; D008027:Light; D055620:Optical Phenomena