London, June 25 (ANI): The eye of the peacock mantis shrimp has led to the development of a two-part waveplate that could improve CD, DVD, blu-ray and holographic technology, creating even higher definition and larger storage density.
Peacock mantis shrimp are one of only a few animal species that can see circularly polarized light-like the light used to create 3-D movies. Some researchers believe the mantis shrimp's eyes are better over the entire visual spectrum than any man-made waveplates.
A waveplate is a transparent slab that can alter the polarization of light because it is birefringent-exhibits double refraction.
The mineral calcite, which is sometimes used as a waveplate, is birefringent. This print viewed through a calcite lens appears as doubled and slightly offset letters.
"We want to change the polarization without affecting the amount of light that gets through," Akhlesh Lakhtakia, Charles Godfrey Binder Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics, Penn State, said.
"We want both transmittance and changing polarization to occur quite independent of frequency. In other words, we do not want to affect the colour," Lakhtakia stated.
A team of engineers from the National Taipei University of Technology and Lakhtakia developed a method to produce periodically multi layered materials, similar to the lens in the peacock mantis shrimp, that are suitable for waveplates in the visual light spectrum and cannot delaminate because they are manufactured as one piece.
"The fabrication technique of the periodically multi layered structures is a workhorse technique in the thin-film industry, does not require expensive lithography equipment and is compatible with ... technology commonplace in electronics and optoelectronics industries," the researchers wrote.
The researchers report their work in the current online issue of Nature Communications. (ANI)
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