Comprehensive optical study of the dragonfly Aeshna cyanea transparent wing

Abstract

The optical properties of the transparent wings of the Dragonfly Aeshna cyanea were studied using a comprehensive set of optical measurements, experimental analysis and theoretical modeling which involves the use of a high level programming language to simulate the optical effects seen. With these, the relative refractive index of the Odonatan wing, the pruinosity associated with the microstructure and the chemical composition of the wings were studied. The Nystrom matrix techniques were applied to solve the surface currents JZ and HZ of the scattered fields for different incident angles from grazing and used to explain the pruinosity associated with the wings microstructure. The wing was found to be an Electro-Optic Material (EOM) associated with a number of Nonlinear Optical (NLO) responses having high frequency absorption for extreme UV and also, leaky multi-channeling wave guide