Moth eye effect

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The moth-eye effect describes the effect of nanoscale structures on the cornea of insect eyes of nocturnal and crepuscular insects. It was discovered in 1962.

The structure leads to a gradual transition of the refractive index from air to the chitin of the insect's eye and thus suppresses the reflection of visible light over a broad spectrum. It is assumed that the almost complete suppression of the reflection of visible light provides better protection against predators. Technically, this effect is z. B. used in photovoltaics to produce anti-reflective coatings .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ CG Bernhard, WH Miller: A Corneal Nipple Pattern in Insect Compound Eyes . 1962, doi : 10.1111 / j.1748-1716.1962.tb02515.x .
  2. ↑ DG Stavenga, p Foletti, G. Palasantzas, K. Arikawa: Light on the moth-eye corneal nipple array of butterflies . 2006, doi : 10.1098 / rspb.2005.3369 , PMC 1560070 (free full text).
  3. ↑ A. Gombert, M. Rommel: Broadband antireflective coatings . 1998 ( fvee.de [PDF]).
  4. ↑ C.-H. Sun, P. Jiang, B. Jiang: Broadband moth-eye antireflection coatings on silicon . 2008, doi : 10.1063 / 1.2870080 .