In a quest to understand how these uncommon light signals are produced in mantis shrimp, researchers from the Ecology of Vision Lab discovered that they use a polarizing structure unlike anything ever seen or developed by humans. The research is published in Scientific Reports.
Using a combination of careful anatomy, light measurements, and theoretical modelling, it was found that the mantis shrimp polarizers work by manipulating light across the structure rather than through its depth, which is how typical polarizers work. Such a photonic mechanism affords the animal with small, microscopically thin and dynamic optical structures that still produce big, bright and colourful polarized signals.
Dr Nicholas Roberts said: “When it comes to developing a new way to make polarizers, nature has come up with optical solutions we haven't yet thought of. Industries working on optical technologies will be interested in this new solution mantis shrimp have found to create a polarizer as new ways for humans to use and control light are developed.”
‘A shape-anisotropic reflective polarizer in a stomatopod crustacean’ by Thomas M. Jordan, David Wilby, Tsyr-Huei Chiou, Kathryn D. Feller, Roy L. Caldwell, Thomas W. Cronin and Nicholas W. Roberts 2016 Scientific Reports [open access]
Under a polarized sky
If you're lucky, when you look up the sky will appear a clear blue. But for many animals, the sky is awash with useful information which they may use to help find their way around.
As light from the sun interacts with particles in the atmosphere, certain angles of polarization make their way to the Earth more easily than others. This results in a complex pattern in the sky which can help some insects to navigate and orient.
Xin Wang is a PhD student visiting the Ecology of Vision group for 2 years from the Hefei University of Technology, China. His research centres on developing technology in order to build a robot which will navigate using the skylight polarization pattern.
On course to this goal, Xin has built a new, computational model of the skylight polarization pattern. Which is published this week in the Journal of Optics.
'An analytical model for the celestial distribution of polarized light, accounting for polarization singularities, wavelength and atmospheric turbidity' by Xin Wang, Jun Gao, Zhiguo Fang and Nicholas W. Roberts 2016 Journal of Optics
Magnetic Micromirrors
Guanine is best known as one of the 4 bases of DNA or as a major constituent of bat droppings! But we know it as a highly capable optical biological material. Its high refractive index and large birefringence (different refractive properties for different polarizations) mean that it appears in reflective structures which need to control their polarization properties, such as the silvery reflections from fish skin.