Colloidal photonic glasses and the case of red
| When |
Jan 05, 2016
from 10:45 to 12:00 |
|---|---|
| Where | Centre Blaise Pascal |
| Attendees |
Sofia Magkiriadou |
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When a material has inhomogeneities at a length scale comparable to the wavelength of light, interference can give rise to structural colors: colors that originate from the interaction of the material’s microstructure with light and do not require absorbing dyes. One familiar way in which this occurs is Bragg scattering in photonic crystals, which have iridescent structural colors. However, long-ranged order is not necessary for structural color: glasses, which have only short-ranged order, can also be colorful. Unlike crystals, the structural colors of photonic glasses are independent of the viewing angle due to their disordered, isotropic structure.
Nature has been employing this coloration mechanism for millions of years. However, to the best of our knowledge, there is no natural example of a red photonic glass. What is special about red?