EAPSI:Investigating the Physics Underlying the Brilliant Structural Color of Morpho Butterflies for Reproduction and Incorporation in Electronics

集成电路技术和光通信推动了信息革命，但要保持信息革命的持续发展，就需要将这两种技术融合为一种单片技术。由于硅（Si）是用于制造集成电路的材料，因此硅光子学（定义为使用Si基材料和Si兼容工艺的光子学）可以成为解决方案。 研究Morpho蝴蝶产生鲜艳颜色的独特物理机制将为硅光子学的设计提供信息。 这个项目将有助于目前的努力，研究背后的物理过程的闪蝶的辉煌的颜色，并在实际应用中大规模地重现他们。 这项研究将与韩国科学技术高等研究院的Jung Shin教授合作进行，Jung Shin教授专门研究能够实现Si光子学的材料和结构。与颜料，染料和油漆中发现的选择性波长吸收的化学过程不同，Morpho蝴蝶？的结构色是通过一个物理过程出现的：当光与材料表面的纳米结构相互作用时产生干涉效应。结构色主要基于基本的光学过程，如薄层干涉，衍射光栅和光散射，但这些过程在自然系统中混合在一起，产生复杂的光学现象，尚未完全理解。多集群的数值模拟，采用时域有限差分法（FDTD）建模将阐明产生的Morpho蝴蝶？的颜色。 将进行涉及纳米压印光刻、溅射沉积和多层样品的干法蚀刻的制造过程。 样品的光学特性，然后与以前的数值模拟的结果进行比较，将揭示制造技术在复制Morpho蝴蝶中产生颜色的纳米结构的有效性。NSF EAPSI奖是与韩国国家研究基金会合作资助的。

Integrated circuit technology and optical communication drive the information revolution, but sustaining continued progress of the information revolution requires merging the two into one monolithic technology. Since silicon (Si) is the material used to manufacture integrated circuits, silicon photonics, defined as photonics using Si-based materials and Si-compatible processes, can be the solution. Investigating the unique physical mechanism by which the Morpho butterfly generates its vivid color will inform the design of Si photonics. This project will contribute to the current effort to study the physical processes behind the brilliant colors of Morpho butterflies and to recreate them on a large scale for practical applications. This research will be conducted in collaboration with Professor Jung Shin at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, who specializes in research of materials and structures that can enable realization of Si photonics.Unlike the chemical process of selective wavelength absorption found in pigments, dyes, and paints, the Morpho butterfly?s structural colors emerge via a physical process: interference effects as light interacts with the nanostructures on the surface of a material. Structural colors are mainly based on elementary optical processes, such as thin-layer interference, diffraction grating, and light scattering, but these processes mix together in natural systems to produce complex optical phenomena that have yet to be fully understood. Multi-cluster numerical simulation using Finite-Difference Time-Domain (FDTD) modeling will elucidate the photophysics generating the Morpho butterfly?s colors. A fabrication process involving nanoimprinting lithography, sputter deposition, and dry etching of multilayer samples will be conducted. Optical characterization of the samples, and then comparison with the results from the previous numerical simulation, will reveal the effectiveness of the fabrication technique in replicating the color-generating nanostructures in the Morpho butterfly. The NSF EAPSI award is funded in collaboration with the National Research Foundation of Korea.