Colour in living creatures caused by interference effects
The brilliant iridescent colors of the peacock's tail feathers are created by structural coloration, as first noted by Isaac Newton and Robert Hooke.
Structural coloration in animals, and a few plants, is the production of colour by microscopically structured surfaces fine enough to interfere with visible light instead of pigments, although some structural coloration occurs in combination with pigments. For example, peacock tail feathers are pigmented brown, but their microscopic structure makes them also reflect blue, turquoise, and green light, and they are often iridescent.
Structural coloration was first described by English scientists Robert Hooke and Isaac Newton, and its principle – wave interference – explained by Thomas Young a century later. Young described iridescence as the result of interference between reflections from two or more surfaces of thin films, combined with refraction as light enters and leaves such films. The geometry then determines that at certain angles, the light reflected from both surfaces interferes constructively, while at other angles, the light interferes destructively. Different colours therefore appear at different angles.
In animals such as on the feathers of birds and the scales of butterflies, interference is created by a range of photonic mechanisms, including diffraction gratings, selective mirrors, photonic crystals, crystal fibres, matrices of nanochannels and proteins that can vary their configuration. Some cuts of meat also show structural coloration due to the exposure of the periodic arrangement of the muscular fibres. Many of these photonic mechanisms correspond to elaborate structures visible by electron microscopy. In the few plants that exploit structural coloration, brilliant colours are produced by structures within cells. The most brilliant blue coloration known in any living tissue is found in the marble berries of Pollia condensata, where a spiral structure of cellulose fibrils produces Bragg's law scattering of light. The bright gloss of buttercups is produced by thin-film reflection by the epidermis supplemented by yellow pigmentation, and strong diffuse scattering by a layer of starch cells immediately beneath.
Structural coloration has potential for industrial, commercial and military applications, with biomimetic surfaces that could provide brilliant colours, adaptive camouflage, efficient optical switches and low-reflectance glass.
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Structuralcoloration in animals, and a few plants, is the production of colour by microscopically structured surfaces fine enough to interfere with visible...
its coloration to match its background, and when it was alarmed. In his 1665 book Micrographia, Robert Hooke describes the "fantastical" (structural, not...
"remarkable example of photonic engineering by a living organism". This structuralcoloration is a defense mechanism, giving a warning signal to potential predators...
the bands of this butterfly is not produced by pigments, but is structuralcoloration produced by the microstructure of the wing scales. They refract...
"remarkable example of photonic engineering by a living organism". This structuralcoloration is a defense mechanism, giving a warning signal to potential predators...
forested regions of Africa. The blue colour of the fruit, created by structuralcoloration, is the most intense of any known biological material. The plant...
Microstructures that interfere with the light cause structuralcoloration. Some examples of structuralcoloration include bird feathers and butterfly wings. (see:Iridescence)...
Camouflage is the use of any combination of materials, coloration, or illumination for concealment, either by making animals or objects hard to see, or...
incorporated into the cuticle. Often, in the cuticle of arthropods, structuralcoloration is observed, produced by nanostructures. In the mealworm beetle...
cuttlefish to use another modality of visual signalling brought about by structuralcoloration. Iridophores are structures that produce iridescent colors with...
iridescence. The structuralcoloration of the male dorsal wings is affected by environmental factors. There is an increase in ultraviolet coloration coverage...
dragonflies have brilliant iridescent or metallic colours produced by structuralcoloration, making them conspicuous in flight. An adult dragonfly's compound...
(hydrated silicon dioxide), called a frustule. These frustules produce structuralcoloration, prompting them to be described as "jewels of the sea" and "living...
of the blues, greens, reds and iridescent colours are created by structuralcoloration produced by the micro-structures of the scales and hairs. As in...
known for its attractive iridescent/holographic sheen caused by structuralcoloration. Five subspecies are currently recognized, including the nominate...
spectrum Light Rainbow Visible Spectral colors Chromophore Structuralcoloration Animal coloration Color of chemicals Water Spectral power distribution Colorimetry...
often highly sculptured, with brilliant metallic colors created by structuralcoloration. They are most diverse in desert regions of the world, as they are...
arrangement of muscle cells that can cause light diffraction and structuralcoloration. The subcutaneous fat and skin on the back (fatback) are used to...
(i.e., different diffraction angles). The emerging coloration is a form of structuralcoloration. The directions or diffraction angles of these beams...
Hanlon, Roger T (2009). "Mechanisms and behavioural functions of structuralcoloration in cephalopods". Journal of the Royal Society Interface. 6 (suppl_2):...
Dinosaur coloration is generally one of the unknowns in the field of paleontology, as skin pigmentation is nearly always lost during the fossilization...
produce iridescent colors, an optical phenomenon sometimes called structuralcoloration. As of 2022, no clinical trials have assessed poultry intake on...
actual pigment in its feathers is melanin. This is referred to as structuralcoloration. The blue jay occurs from southern Canada (including the southern...
developing feather, and can thus not occur in structuralcoloration (i.e., "dilute blue" does not exist); pale structural colors are instead achieved by shifting...
mandrill". The red coloration is created by blood vessels near the surface of the skin, while the blue is a form of structuralcoloration caused by parallel...
cells. Structural colours have also been found in several algae, such as in the red alga Chondrus crispus (Irish Moss). Structuralcoloration produces...
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