Rainbow peacock spiders inspire miniature super-iridescent optics

Bor-Kai Hsiung; Radwanul Hasan Siddique; Doekele G Stavenga; Jürgen C Otto; Michael C Allen; Ying Liu; Yong-Feng Lu; Dimitri D Deheyn; Matthew D Shawkey; Todd A Blackledge

doi:10.1038/s41467-017-02451-x

Rainbow peacock spiders inspire miniature super-iridescent optics

Nat Commun. 2017 Dec 22;8(1):2278. doi: 10.1038/s41467-017-02451-x.

Authors

Bor-Kai Hsiung^{1

2}, Radwanul Hasan Siddique³, Doekele G Stavenga⁴, Jürgen C Otto⁵, Michael C Allen⁶, Ying Liu⁷, Yong-Feng Lu⁷, Dimitri D Deheyn⁶, Matthew D Shawkey^{8

9}, Todd A Blackledge⁸

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biology and Integrated Bioscience Program, The University of Akron, Akron, OH, 44325, USA. [email protected].
² Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO), University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA. [email protected].
³ Department of Medical Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, 91125, USA.
⁴ Department of Computational Physics, University of Groningen, 9747 AG, Groningen, The Netherlands.
⁵ 19 Grevillea Avenue, St. Ives, NSW, 2075, Australia.
⁶ Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO), University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA.
⁷ Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, 68588, USA.
⁸ Department of Biology and Integrated Bioscience Program, The University of Akron, Akron, OH, 44325, USA.
⁹ Biology Department, Evolution and Optics of Nanostructures Group, Ghent University, Ledeganckstraat 35, 9000, Ghent, Belgium.

Abstract

Colour produced by wavelength-dependent light scattering is a key component of visual communication in nature and acts particularly strongly in visual signalling by structurally-coloured animals during courtship. Two miniature peacock spiders (Maratus robinsoni and M. chrysomelas) court females using tiny structured scales (~ 40 × 10 μm²) that reflect the full visual spectrum. Using TEM and optical modelling, we show that the spiders' scales have 2D nanogratings on microscale 3D convex surfaces with at least twice the resolving power of a conventional 2D diffraction grating of the same period. Whereas the long optical path lengths required for light-dispersive components to resolve individual wavelengths constrain current spectrometers to bulky sizes, our nano-3D printed prototypes demonstrate that the design principle of the peacock spiders' scales could inspire novel, miniature light-dispersive components.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animal Scales / ultrastructure*
Animals
Color*
Courtship
Microscopy, Electron, Transmission
Nanostructures
Optical Phenomena*
Optics and Photonics
Printing, Three-Dimensional
Spectrum Analysis / instrumentation
Spiders / ultrastructure*