Biological and Bio-inspired Optics (Faraday Discussion 223)

Over the last decade, an increasingly advanced understanding of nature’s light manipulation strategies has allowed scientists and engineers to design novel biologically inspired photonic materials for a wide range of applications. Recent research efforts have uncovered a truly astounding diversity of biological light management mechanisms that rely on various photonic structures, and there is much to be learnt from biological photonic structures for the design of advanced optical materials. Biological optical materials often create desirable synergies between quantum-optical, wave-optical, and ray-optical phenomena through a fine control of material structure and composition across all relevant length scales. Deciphering the origin of such synergies will allow scientists to emulate and improve upon them to solve challenges in optical technology development.

This volume focuses on the most recent developments in this exciting and rapidly evolving field, assessing what we currently know about nature’s most intriguing light management techniques and reviewing strategies for deriving advantages from this knowledge in bio-inspired materials. More importantly, we also aim to identify current challenges and opportunities and derive a recommendation of how the field could be moving forward in the years to come.

The topics covered in this volume include:

• Optics and photonics in nature
• Bio-inspired optics
• The role of structure: order vs disorder in bio-photonic systems
• The role of composition: natural materials vs synthetic composites