Abstract

We combine the principles of moth-eye antireflection, Bragg scattering, and thin-film interference to design and fabricate a short-wavelength scattering/long-pass filter with sharp cutoff, high transmission of infrared light, and strong reflection of visible light into high angles. Based on the lamellae-edge features on Morpho didius butterfly wings, nanostructures are self-assembled via sequential one-chamber chemical vapor deposition, metal nanoparticle formation, and wet-chemical etching. Finite-element modeling demonstrates strong (>45%) reflection into the first diffracted order for short wavelengths, while retaining >80% transmission for longer wavelengths. Fabricated nanostructures couple more than 50% of reflected light into angles of >10° while enabling broadband long-pass transmission. Such structures have potential applications in light trapping for tandem solar cells, stealth, and signals processing.
Supporting Information
The Supporting Information is available free of charge on the ACS Publications website at DOI: 10.1021/acsphotonics.6b01007.
Complete modeling results for varying periods, modeling results for SiON structures, measured reflection spectra for five batch samples, measured angular transmittance spectra, additional details of optical measurement and nanostructure fabrication, and additional scanning electron micrographs (PDF)




