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Mantis shrimp, Odontodactylus scyllarus / Jens Peterse.. / License
Mantis shrimp, Odontodactylus scyllarus / Jens Peterse.. / License
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Mantis shrimp, Odontodactylus scyllarus / Jens Peterse.. / License
Eyes of mantis shrimp convert linearly polarized light to circularly polarized light using quarter-wave plates.
| Biomimetic Application Ideas |
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- Optical devices using liquid crystals
- Circular polarizing filters for cameras
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[Collapse all sections] Summary
"Special light-sensitive cells in mantis shrimp eyes act as quarter-wave plates – which can rotate the plane of the oscillations (the polarization) of a light wave as it travels through it. This capability makes it possible for mantis shrimps to convert linearly polarized light to circularly polarized light and vice versa. Manmade quarter-wave plates perform this essential function in CD and DVD players and in circular polarizing filters for cameras.
"However, these artificial devices only tend to work well for one colour of light while the natural mechanism in the mantis shrimp's eyes works almost perfectly across the whole visible spectrum – from near-ultra violet to infra-red."
"Exactly why the mantis shrimp needs such exquisite sensitivity to circularly polarized light isn't clear. However, polarization vision is used by animals for sexual signalling or secret communication that avoids the attention of other animals, especially predators. It could also assist in the finding and catching of prey by improving the clarity of images underwater. If this mechanism in the mantis shrimp provides an evolutionary advantage, it would be easily selected for as it only requires small changes to existing properties of the cell in the eye." (Source: University of Bristol Press Release, October 25, 2009, at http://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2009/6591.html)
Excerpt
"Animals make use of a wealth of optical physics to control and manipulate light, for example, in creating reflective animal colouration and polarized light signals. Their precise optics often surpass equivalent man-made optical devices in both sophistication and efficiency. Here, we report a biophysical mechanism that creates a natural full-visible-range achromatic quarter-wave retarder in the eye of a stomatopod crustacean. Analogous, man-made retardation devices are important optical components, used in both scientific research and commercial applications for controlling polarized light. Typical synthetic retarders are not achromatic, and more elaborate designs, such as, multilayer subwavelength gratings or bicrystalline constructions, only achieve partial wavelength independence. In this work, we use both experimental measurements and theoretical modelling of the photoreceptor structure to illustrate how a novel interplay of intrinsic and form birefringence results in a natural achromatic optic that significantly outperforms current man-made optical devices." (Roberts et al. 2009:641)
About the inspiring organism
Odontodactylus
Odontodactylus
[mantis shrimp]
IUCN Red List Status: Unknown
Organism/taxonomy data provided by:
Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life: 2008 Annual Checklist
Bioinspired products and application ideas
Application Ideas: Optical devices using liquid crystals for uses such as in DVDs, CDs. Circular polarizing filters for cameras.
Industrial Sector(s) interested in this strategy: Manufacturing
Experts
References
Roberts NW, Chiou T-H, Marshall NJ, Cronin TW. 2009. A biological quarter-wave retarder with excellent achromaticity in the visible wavelength region. Nature Photonics. 11(3): 641-644.
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