Multi-wavelength study of light transmitted through a single marine centric diatom.

The characterization of partially coherent light transmission by micrometer sized valves of marine diatoms is an interesting optical challenge and, from the biological point of view, is of outmost relevance in order to understand evolution mechanisms of such organisms. In the present work, we have studied the transmission of light coming from a monochromator through single valves of Coscinodiscus wailesii diatoms. Incoming light is confined by the regular pore pattern of the diatom surface into a spot of few microns, its dimensions depending on wavelength. The effect is ascribed to the superposition of wavefronts diffracted by the pores' edges. Numerical simulations help to demonstrate how this effect is not present in the ultraviolet region of the light spectrum, showing one of the possible evolutionary advantages represented by the regular pores patterns of the valves.

[1]  Peter Vukusic,et al.  Light manipulation in a marine diatom , 2008 .

[2]  Andrew R. Parker,et al.  Biomimetics of photonic nanostructures. , 2007, Nature nanotechnology.

[3]  Greg Gbur,et al.  Coherence properties of sunlight. , 2004, Optics letters.

[4]  E. Palik.  Handbook of Optical Constants of Solids , 1997 .

[5]  Luca De Stefano,et al.  Lensless light focusing with the centric marine diatom Coscinodiscus walesii. , 2007, Optics express.

[6]  R. Wootton,et al.  Quantified interference and diffraction in single Morpho butterfly scales , 1999, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences.

[7]  Pei-Kuen Wei,et al.  Single live cell refractometer using nanoparticle coated fiber tip , 2008 .

[8]  E. G. Vrieling,et al.  Nanoscale uniformity of pore architecture in diatomaceous silica: a combined small and wide angle x‐ray scattering study , 2000 .

[9]  Paul Mulvaney,et al.  NANOSTRUCTURE OF THE DIATOM FRUSTULE AS REVEALED BY ATOMIC FORCE AND SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPY , 2001 .

[10]  Andrew R. Parker,et al.  Biomimetics: Photonic Nanostructures , 2010 .

[11]  M. de Stefano,et al.  Interfacing the nanostructured biosilica microshells of the marine diatom Coscinodiscus wailesii with biological matter. , 2008, Acta biomaterialia.

[12]  Gregory L. Rorrer,et al.  Photoluminescence Detection of Biomolecules by Antibody‐Functionalized Diatom Biosilica , 2009 .

[13]  Luca De Stefano,et al.  Nanostructures in diatom frustules: functional morphology of valvocopulae in Cocconeidacean monoraphid taxa. , 2005, Journal of nanoscience and nanotechnology.

[14]  Mario De Stefano,et al.  The Gas‐Detection Properties of Light‐Emitting Diatoms , 2008 .

[15]  J. Sambles,et al.  Photonic structures in biology , 2003, Nature.

[16]  T. Fuhrmann,et al.  Diatoms as living photonic crystals , 2004 .

[17]  G. R. Hadley,et al.  Wide-angle beam propagation using Pade approximant operators. , 1992, Optics letters.

[18]  Shigeru Yamanaka,et al.  Optical properties of diatom silica frustule with special reference to blue light , 2008 .

[19]  A.-M. M. Schmid.  Intraclonal variation in the valve structure of Coscinodiscus wailesii Gran et Angst , 1990 .

[20]  Ivo Rendina,et al.  Marine diatoms as optical chemical sensors , 2005 .

[21]  L. Stefano,et al.  Nanostructures in diatom frustules: functional morphology of valvocopulae in Cocconeidacean monoraphid taxa. , 2005 .