Open AccessScattering of light by a single layer of randomly packed dielectric microspheres giving color effects in transmission
Author(s) -
Mickaël Guillaumée,
Martha Liley,
Raphaël Pugin,
R. P. Stanley
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/oe.16.001440
Subject(s) - scattering , optics , mie scattering , materials science , light scattering , spheres , forward scatter , dielectric , integrating sphere , reflection (computer programming) , polystyrene , monolayer , transmission (telecommunications) , microsphere , molecular physics , physics , optoelectronics , nanotechnology , telecommunications , composite material , astronomy , computer science , programming language , engineering , chemical engineering , polymer
Strong scattering properties are obtained for a monolayer of randomly packed polystyrene microspheres. This gives rise to structural colors in transmission. For a sphere diameter between 0.5 and 1 micron, light is mainly scattered in the forward direction. Consequently, in-plane multiple scattering can be neglected when spheres are not too close to each others. This allows one to use a single scattering approximation to reproduce transmission spectra of the system. The film color is dependent on the sphere size, but also on the observation angle. This angular dependant color is reproduced taking into account multiple scattering between spheres. These films can be useful when low reflection is needed.