The structural coloration mechanisms of Morpho butterfly wing scales

Liu, Chunzi

Title:

The structural coloration mechanisms of Morpho butterfly wing scales

dc.contributor.advisor	Srinivasarao, Mohan
dc.contributor.author	Liu, Chunzi
dc.contributor.committeeMember	Russo, Paul S
dc.contributor.committeeMember	Cook, Fred
dc.contributor.department	Materials Science and Engineering
dc.date.accessioned	2016-07-18T17:05:12Z
dc.date.available	2016-07-18T17:05:12Z
dc.date.created	2016-05
dc.date.issued	2016-07-18
dc.date.submitted	May 2016
dc.date.updated	2016-07-18T17:05:13Z
dc.description.abstract	Many bright colors in nature are generated by the optical effects of biological structures. These intricate structures, combined with the absorption and reflection effects of the chemical pigments within, provide the observed color with high visibility and some other startling optical properties. A prominent example comes from the iridescent colors observed on the wing scales of Morpho, a family of subtropical butterflies. Iridescent color refers to the color which changes with varying viewing angle. It is proposed that a layered structure alternating in refractive indices produces the observed colors on the butterfly wing scales, but this generalized idea does not explain some optical effects observed through a variety of methods. This research suggests that the structures in the lower lamina also contributes to the macroscopic optical effects. The observation methods used in this research include optical microscopy, spectroscopy, integrating sphere analysis, and scatterometry. The scatterometry visualizes the far field optical effects from all viewing angles simultaneously. Elementary explanations are proposed for the unexpected patterns observed in the experiments.
dc.description.degree	Undergraduate
dc.format.mimetype	application/pdf
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/1853/55380
dc.language.iso	en_US
dc.publisher	Georgia Institute of Technology
dc.subject	Structural coloration
dc.subject	Interference
dc.subject	Biological optics
dc.subject	Butterfly wing scales
dc.subject	Scatterometry
dc.title	The structural coloration mechanisms of Morpho butterfly wing scales
dc.type	Text
dc.type.genre	Undergraduate Thesis
dspace.entity.type	Publication
local.contributor.advisor	Srinivasarao, Mohan
local.contributor.corporatename	School of Materials Science and Engineering
local.contributor.corporatename	College of Engineering
local.contributor.corporatename	Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program
local.relation.ispartofseries	Undergraduate Research Option Theses
relation.isAdvisorOfPublication	94a03a29-71ee-41d5-8271-e05e6ed83847
relation.isOrgUnitOfPublication	21b5a45b-0b8a-4b69-a36b-6556f8426a35
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thesis.degree.level	Undergraduate