Wings of butterfly that produces metallic colour inspires researchers to develop new exotic material for hair polish, cosmetic, even flat screen. Besides, material that is used perhaps cheaper than raw material used to make those things now.
Researchers long has known that colouring of wings of butterfly is produced by scale of photonic crystals that is made chitin, polysaccharide material which is also found in the body of insect and another animal.
It scales only have size some micrometer and arrange on the surface of wings within reason tile formation above house.
For the first time, union researchers team from US and Europe succeed measuring structure and characteristic of photonic crystal optic formed in the wings of butterfly of species Cyanophrys remus. Photonic crystal can regulate light reflection to certain direction and regulates its frequency so produces different colours.
“Their wings produce very rich color,”said Lazlo Biro, material scientist in Research Institute for Technical Physics and material Science in Budapest, Hungary. Wing of male butterfly has colour of metalic dark blue when attracts attention of its couple and has green colour when disguise from treatment of enemy.
Crystal structure can be known by combining the shape of its scales from electron microscope and investigates how its scales reflect light. Researchers find that each of its scale has different side structure. The colour of metalic dark blue is produced by scales that have single crystal, while green colour is produced by photonic crystal that composed in random.
Crystal structure that is composed in random perhaps very good to be imitated because can produce different colour combination of green, yellow, and blue, depend on its orientation. Eventhough the effect produced by butterfly of C.remus in nature is only green, researchers team has found how the method to produce red colour is.