Grazing-incidence iridescence from a butterfly wing
Lawrence, Christopher R.; Vukusic, Peter; Sambles, J. Roy
Date: 20 January 2002
Journal
Applied Optics
Publisher
Optical Society of America
Publisher DOI
Abstract
The Troides magellanus butterfly exhibits a specialized iridescence that is visible only when its hind wings are both illuminated and viewed at near-grazing incidence. The effect is due to the presence of a constrained bigrating structure in its wing scales that has been previously observed in only one other species of butterfly ...
The Troides magellanus butterfly exhibits a specialized iridescence that is visible only when its hind wings are both illuminated and viewed at near-grazing incidence. The effect is due to the presence of a constrained bigrating structure in its wing scales that has been previously observed in only one other species of butterfly (Ancyluris meliboeus). However, whereas the Ancyluris presents wide-angle flickering iridescence, the Troides butterfly uses pigmentary coloration at all but a narrow tailored range of angles, producing a characteristic effect.
Physics and Astronomy
Faculty of Environment, Science and Economy
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