Mantis Shrimp Eye Could Improve High-definition CDs, DVDs

Featured In: Academia News

Friday, June 24, 2024

See today's top life science stories and headlines - Sign up now!

newsvine diigo google
slashdot
Share
Loading...

The eye of the peacock mantis shrimp has led an international team of researchers to develop a two-part waveplate that could improve CD, DVD, blu-ray and holographic technology, creating even higher definition and larger storage density. Peacock mantis shrimp are one of only a few animal species that can see circularly polarized light -- like the light used to create 3-D movies. Some researchers believe the mantis shrimp's eyes are better over the entire visual spectrum than any man-made waveplates.

A waveplate is a transparent slab that can alter the polarization of light because it is birefringent -- exhibits double refraction. The mineral calcite, which is sometimes used as a waveplate, is birefringent. This print viewed through a calcite lens appears as doubled and slightly offset letters.

"We want to change the polarization without affecting the amount of light that gets through," said Akhlesh Lakhtakia, Charles Godfrey Binder Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics, Penn State. " We want both transmittance and changing polarization to occur quite independent of frequency. In other words, we do not want to affect the color."

Waveplates restore polarization in devices that require only one polarization of light, but lose polarization within the process. They can also separate light into separate polarizations to carry specific information and can filter light for optical devices.

Typically, waveplates are made from minerals like quartz, calcite or birefringent polymers. In some cases, to create the range and transparency required, two different materials are stacked or joined, but this type of construction sometimes delaminates, coming apart at the seams.

A team of engineers from the National Taipei University of Technology and Lakhtakia developed a method to produce periodically multilayered materials, similar to the lens in the peacock mantis shrimp, that are suitable for waveplates in the visual light spectrum and cannot delaminate because they are manufactured as one piece. The researchers report their work in the current online issue of Nature Communications.

The research team's waveplate is made of two layers of nanorods that are structurally similar to those in the eye of the peacock mantis shrimp. The researchers begin with tantalum pentoxide, but deposit the two layers using different deposition processes creating a multilayered thin film. One method produces a layer of needle-like nanorods that are all parallel to each other and all slanted in the same direction. The second method produces nanorods that are also parallel to each other but are upright.

"The two separate layers are needed so that we can play off one against the other to achieve the desired polarization without significantly reducing transmittance over a broad range of frequencies," said Lakhtakia.

The waveplates consist of a layer of slanted nanorods sandwiched between two layers of upright nanorods. Multiple sandwiches are then stacked to make the required waveplate. Because the size of the nanorods is much less than the wavelengths of visible light, the waveplate is birefringent. Because of the two materials, the waveplate can polarize or repolarize light over the visual spectrum.

The researchers report that "the fabrication technique of the periodically multilayered structures is a workhorse technique in the thin-film industry, does not require expensive lithography equipment and is compatible with … technology commonplace in electronics and optoelectronics industries."

Other researchers on this project were Professor Yi-Jun Jen, post-doctoral researcher Ching-Wei Yu and graduate students Chia-Feng Lin, Meng-Jie Lin, Shih-Hao Wang and Jyun-Rong Lai, Department of Electro-optical Engineering, National Taipei University of Technology.

The National Taipei University of Technology, the National Science Council of the Republic of China and the Charles Godfrey Binder Endowment at Penn State supported this research.

Source: Penn State

Join the Discussion
Rate Article: Average 0 out of 5
register or log in to comment on this article!

0 Comments

Add Comment

Text Only 2000 character limit

Page 1 of 1

Research Exchange

Bringing the Cell Image into Focus

Nov 2 2010

Improvements in transmission electron microscope (TEM) technology increase the power of this imaging tool for the study of cell biology.

Finding a Cure for Spinal Cord Injury with On-Demand LIMS

Oct 25 2010

The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis finds an on-demand laboratory information management system (LIMS) helps to accelerate discovery in its HCS projects.

Saving Cells: Image Processing for Improved Viability, Part II: Iterative Deconvolution

Oct 25 2010

3D light microscopy and deconvolution provide a means to investigate 3D structure, providing near-confocal quality images without the temporal requirements or potentially damaging phototoxicity associated with other 3D imaging technologies. This article is Part II in a series regarding viability, resolution improvement, and measurement in fluorescence imaging. Part I focused on spectral unmixing.

Saving Cells: Image Processing for Improved Viability

Sep 22 2010

This article is Part I of a two-part series regarding viability, resolution improvement, and measurement in fluorescence imaging. Part II will focus on deconvolution.

Evaluation of a New Nano-Type UV-Vis Spectrophotometer

Mar 3

Analysis of one- to four-microliter size samples for nucleic acids has become routine in many life science laboratories. However, until now, available instruments require considerable manipulation of the instrument and sample; some require manually recording the data. The user must typically lower and raise the arm manually, then wipe the sample manually from the target after each analysis. And fiberoptics used in some of these instruments are subject to deterioration.

Production of Recombinant Proteins and Monoclonal Antibodies in Hollow Fiber Bioreactors

Jan 25

While well-understood, robust and convenient, classical batch-style 2-D culture on non-porous supports or 3-D suspension culture in other devices are really not very biologically relevant models. Cell culture conditions can affect the quality of the antibody or protein produced.

Selecting Robots for Use in Drug Discovery and Testing

Dec 6 2010

Drug discovery and testing, with their need for speed, repeatability and verification, are ideally suited to benefit from robot automation. It is therefore not surprising that robots have been at the forefront of automation developments in both these areas.

HP Scalable Network Storage Systems for Life Sciences

Sep 13 2010

Life sciences research today is advancing exponentially, each step bringing us closer to the realization of truly personalized medicine–preventive care and treatments designed specifically for each individual. In the near future, PCPGM healthcare researchers expect to be able to use predictive genetic testing to create custom treatment plans for individuals and deliver dramatic improvements over today’s one-size-fits-all approach. But research capabilities are only part of the equation; current storage and operating capacities must also evolve to accommodate ever-expanding amounts of data before the goal of personalized medicine can be realized.

Using the Tecan Genesis Workstation to Automate a Cytometric Bead Array (CBA) Immunoassay

Mar 11 2010

The poster describe the process involved in automating a Cytometric Bead Array (CBA) immunoassay developed to measure relative concentrations of serum antibodies against Tetanus (TT), Sperm Whale Myoglobin (SWM) and Keyhole Limpet Hemocyanin (KLH) in KLH-immunized volunteers.

Ensuring Quality in Assays Performed with Automated Liquid Handlers

Feb 2 2010

The focus of this presentation is to highlight the need of ensuring quality in important assays performed with automated liquid handlers. Nearly all assays performed within a laboratory are volume-dependent. In turn, all concentrations of biological and chemical components in these assays, as well as the associated dilution protocols, are volume-dependent. Because analyte concentration is volume-dependent, an assay’s results might be falsely interpreted if liquid handler variability and inaccuracies are unknown or if the system(s) go unchecked for a long period.

Inkjet System for Protein Crystallography

Feb 1 2010

X-ray crystallography is used routinely by scientists to obtain the three dimensional structure of a biological molecule of interest.Such information can be used to determine how a pharmaceutical interacts with a protein target and what changes might improve functionality. However, the crystallization of macromolecules still remains a serious hindrance in structural determination despite impressive advances in screening methods and technologies.

Attention Deficit & Hyperactivity in a Drosophila Memory Mutant

Attention Deficit & Hyperactivity in a Drosophila Memory Mutant

Nov 9 2009

Action selection is modulated by external stimuli either directly or via memory retrieval. In a constantly changing environment, animals have evolved attention-like processes to effectively filter the incoming sensory stream. These attention-like processes, in turn, are modulated by memory. The neurobiological nature of how attention, action selection and memory are inter-connected is unknown. We describe here new phenotypes of the memory mutant radish in the fruit fly Drosophila.

Modulation of chop-dependent DR5 expression by nelfinavir sensitizes glioblastoma multiforme cells to tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL)

Jun 26

Human glioblastoma multiforme cells demonstrate varying levels of sensitivity to tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL)-induced apoptosis. Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress has been shown to trigger cell death through apoptosis. We...

Enhanced epithelial-mesenchymal transition-like phenotype in N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase V transgenic mouse skin promotes wound healing

Jun 24

N-Acetylglucosaminyltransferase-V (GnT-V) catalyzes the β1,6 branching of N-acetylglucosamine on N-glycans. GnT-V expression is elevated during malignant transformation in various types of cancer; however, the mechanism by which GnT-V promotes cancer progression...

Assembly and Sorting of the Tonoplast Potassium Channel AtTPK1 and Its Turnover by Internalization into the Vacuole

Jun 24

The assembly, sorting signals and turnover of the tonoplast potassium channel AtTPK1 of Arabidopsis thaliana were studied. We used transgenic Arabidopsis expressing a TPK1-GFP fusion or protoplasts transiently transformed with chimeric constructs based on domain...

Prokariotic Cell Collection in Denmark

Nov 6 2009

I would like to know about a prokariotic cell collection in Denmark. Is there a cell bank in this country? I need a Lactobacillus strain for a fermentation assay and this information about the bank is very helpful for me.

Request for Entries

Oct 16 2009

Ask the Experts is your chance to get the answers to questions on applications, materials, methods, processes, and technologies. Email you question to bst_web@advantagemedia.com, and the editors of Bioscience Technology will find an appropriate expert to answer it. Watch this space in the future to see the questions your colleagues are posting.

STAY INFORMED: SUBSCRIBE TO

Magazine and E-mail Newsletters

Loading...
E-mail:   
Loading...

Free Life Science Industry
Subscriptions

Magazine

wireless week

Newsletters

newsletters

Sign up now



MULTIMEDIA

Video:

Viewing SureFocus Slides

Jun 11 2010

A demonstration of SureFocus Microscope Slides in the review of AFB Smears. SureFocus Slides are a patent-pending breakthrough in tuberculosis detection, as their fluorescent staining circle remains visible during review, Fluorescence Microscopy.

Podcasts:

Allen Institute for Brain Research

Allen Institute for Brain Research

Oct 14 2009

Discussed in this interview are both the mouse brain project and the human cortex project with an emphasis on the importance of these projects to neuroscience research.

Top Stories and Headlines
EVERY DAY!

FREE Email Newsletter

Information: