Open AccessStructure-based optical filtering by the silica microshell of the centric marine diatom Coscinodiscus wailesii
Author(s) -
Khanh Kieu,
C. Li,
Yihai Fang,
Gregory A. Cohoon,
Oscar D. Herrera,
Mark Hildebrand,
Kenneth H. Sandhage,
Robert A. Norwood
Publication year - 2014
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.22.015992
Subject(s) - frustule , diatom , supercontinuum , materials science , microscale chemistry , biogenic silica , diffraction , optics , photonic crystal , laser , photonics , optoelectronics , photonic crystal fiber , oceanography , geology , wavelength , physics , mathematics education , mathematics
Diatoms are a renewable (biologically reproducible) source of three-dimensional (3-D) nanostructured silica that could be attractive for a variety of photonic devices, owing to the wide range of quasi-periodic patterns of nano-to-microscale pores available on the silica microshells (frustules) of various diatom species. We have investigated the optical behavior of the silica frustule of a centric marine diatom, Coscinodiscus wailesii, using a coherent broadband (400-1700 nm) supercontinuum laser focused to a fine (20 µm diameter) spot. The C. wailesii frustule valve, which possessed a quasi-periodic hexagonal pore array, exhibited position-dependent optical diffraction. Changes in such diffraction behavior across the frustule were consistent with observed variations in the quasi-periodic pore pattern.