Why is General Electric Global Research so interested in the optical properties of butterfly wings? Rachel Won spoke to Radislav Potyrailo about the recent findings of his team that the wing's nanostructures act as a high-performance optical sensor for detecting vapours.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$259.00 per year
only $21.58 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on SpringerLink
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
References
Vukusic, P. & Sambles, J. R. Photonic structures in biology. Nature 424, 852–855 (2003).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Won, R. On the wing of a butterfly. Nature Photon 1, 130 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2006.94
Issue date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2006.94
This article is cited by
-
Optical properties of the micro/nano structures of Morpho butterfly wing scales
Science in China Series E: Technological Sciences (2010)
-
Natural light
Nature Photonics (2007)
