Bio-inspired band-gap tunable elastic optical multilayer fibers.
The concentrically-layered photonic structure found in the tropical fruit Margaritaria nobilis serves as inspiration for photonic fibers with mechanically tunable band-gap. The fibers show the spectral filtering capabilities of a planar Bragg stack while the microscopic curvature decreases the strong directional chromaticity associated with flat multilayers. Elongation of the elastic fibers results in a shift of the reflection of over 200 nm.
Harvard University, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, 9 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. mkolle@seas.harvard.edu
Mathias
M
Kolle
Alfred
A
Lethbridge
Moritz
M
Kreysing
Jeremy J
JJ
Baumberg
Joanna
J
Aizenberg
Peter
P
Vukusic
D004548:Elasticity; D019669:Embryophyta / Q000737:chemistry; D005638:Fruit / Q000737:chemistry; D055100:Optical Fibers; D017785:Photons