nanoHUB IGNITE 2021 - Nanophotonics Challenge
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Abstract
This series of videos explains in five parts the nanoHUB IGNITE 2021 Nanophotonics Challenge. nanoHUB IGNITE 2021 is a simulation-based exploration and design challenge open to undergraduate students.
The blue morpho butterfly is a wonderful example of interference and diffraction effects. The iridescent blue color you see is what we call "structural color". The wings of the blue morpho butterfly are not pigmented. Rather, layers of nanostructures on the surface of the blue morpho butterfly create diffraction and interference effects that give strong reflection of blue wavelengths of light.
In this challenge, we would like to use open-source EM simulation tools available on nanoHUB.org to mimic the blue morpho microstructure. The tool we’ll use is called Stanford Stratified Structure Solver (S4). This EM tool is a frequency domain code to solve the linear Maxwell’s equations in layered periodic structures. Internally, it uses a computational technique called “Rigorous Coupled Wave Analysis” or RCWA; also called the Fourier Modal Method (FMM) and the S-matrix algorithm.
Based on our understanding of the structural coloring of the blue morpho butterfly, we would like to simulate a similar structure to understand the reflection spectrum and tune this optical effect.
For full details see nanoHUB IGNITE 2021 Nanophotonics Challenge
Credits
We thank Dr. Tanya Faltens and Joseph Cychosz for valuable input and technical support.
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