Open AccessUltranegative angular dispersion of diffraction in quasiordered biophotonic structures
Author(s) -
Feng Liu,
Biqin Dong,
Fangyuan Zhao,
Xinhua Hu,
Xiaohan Liu,
Jian Zi
Publication year - 2011
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.19.007750
Subject(s) - diffraction , optics , dispersion (optics) , diffraction grating , materials science , photonic crystal , photonics , grating , transverse plane , diffraction efficiency , physics , structural engineering , engineering
We report that a three-dimensional quasiordered photonic structure, found in the cuticles of beetle H. sexmaculata, can diffract light in a "wrong" way and its angular dispersion is about one order of magnitude larger than that of a conventional diffraction grating. A new diffraction type of photonic bandgap (from an anticrossing of longitudinal and transverse modes) and additional disorder effect are found to play important roles in this phenomenon. Mimicking the structure could lead to novel optical devices with ultralarge angular dispersion.