AUTHOR=Mendoza-Galván Arturo , Magnusson Roger , Jansson Nicklas , Arwin Hans , Järrendahl Kenneth 

TITLE=Dual chiral structures in the cuticle of Protaetia mirifica analyzed with Mueller matrix spectroscopic ellipsometry

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Physics

VOLUME=Volume 12 - 2024

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/physics/articles/10.3389/fphy.2024.1444297

DOI=10.3389/fphy.2024.1444297

ISSN=2296-424X

ABSTRACT=<p>Many species of beetles from the family Scarabaeidae reflect light with near-circular polarization. In some cases, spectral narrow-band polarization phenomena result in a distinct color with a metallic shine. In other cases, broad-band features are seen, and these beetles have a silvery or goldish appearance. These features in the cuticles originate from helicoidal structures, so-called circular Bragg structures and also referred to as Bouligand structures. In this communication, <italic>Protaetia mirifica,</italic> exhibiting near-circular polarization properties in dual spectral regions, centered approximately at the wavelengths of 474 and 770 nm, is investigated in considerable detail using Mueller matrix spectroscopic ellipsometry (MMSE). From interference oscillations in the MMSE spectra, the pitch profile of the helicoidal structures in the beetle cuticle is extracted and further used in electromagnetic modeling of the cuticle structure, including the determination of epicuticle and exocuticle thicknesses (280 nm and 8.1 <inline-formula id="inf1"><mml:math id="m1" xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:mrow><mml:mi>μ</mml:mi><mml:mi mathvariant="normal">m</mml:mi></mml:mrow></mml:math></inline-formula>, respectively) and anisotropic optical properties. These findings are confirmed by scanning electron microscopy. The analysis shows that the uppermost <inline-formula id="inf2"><mml:math id="m2" xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:mrow><mml:mn>4</mml:mn><mml:mtext> </mml:mtext><mml:mi>μ</mml:mi><mml:mi mathvariant="normal">m</mml:mi></mml:mrow></mml:math></inline-formula> of the cuticle has a nearly constant pitch of 310 nm, which abruptly jumps to 440 nm and then gradually increases up to 575 nm. Sum decompositions of MMSE spectra reveal that the beetle cuticle reflects like a circular polarizer or like a dielectric mirror, depending on the spectral region.</p>