Structural and dielectric properties of Sr2_{2}TiO4_{4} from first principles

We have investigated the structural and dielectric properties of Sr$_{2}$TiO$_{4}$,the first member of the Sr$_{n+1}$Ti$_{n}$O$_{3n+1}$ Ruddlesden-Popper series, within density functional theory. Motivated by recent work in which thin films of Sr$_{2}$TiO$_{4}$ were grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) on SrTiO$_{3}$ substrates, the in-plane lattice parameter was fixed to the theoretically optimized lattice constant of cubic SrTiO$_{3}$ (n=$\infty$), while the out-of-plane lattice parameter and the internal structural parameters were relaxed. The fully relaxed structure was also investigated. Density functional perturbation theory was used to calculate the zone-center phonon frequencies, Born effective charges, and the electronic dielectric permittivity tensor. A detailed study of the contribution of individual infrared-active modes to the static dielectric permittivity tensor was performed. The calculated Raman and infrared phonon frequencies were found to be in agreement with experiment where available. Comparisons of the calculated static dielectric permittivity with experiments on both ceramic powders and epitaxial thin films are discussed.Comment: 11 pages, 1 figure, 8 tables, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Imaging scatterometry and microspectrophotometry of lycaenid butterfly wing scales with perforated multilayers

We studied the structural as well as spatial and spectral reflectance characteristics of the wing scales of lycaenid butterfly species, where the scale bodies consist of perforated multilayers. The extent of the spatial scattering profiles was measured with a newly built scatterometer. The width of the reflectance spectra, measured with a microspectrophotometer, decreased with the degree of perforation, in agreement with the calculations based on multilayer theory

A review of the diversity and evolution of photonic structures in butterflies, incorporating the work of John Huxley (The Natural History Museum, London from 1961 to 1990)

The photonic structures of butterfly wings are among the most anatomically diverse of all those in nature, giving rise to an unrivalled display of structural colours. These have recently become the focus of research by workers in a variety of disciplines, stimulated by their potential applications to technology (‘biomimetics’). This interest, together with the discovery of unpublished electron micrographs taken by the late Dr John Huxley (Natural History Museum, London), prompted this review of butterfly photonics in general. The current work provides a synopsis of the literature to date, covering the diversity and evolution of these optical structures and incorporating Huxley's work, which represents an important biomimetic and evolutionary database on its own. This review deals with butterfly photonic devices according to the parts of the butterfly scales on which they occur. In this way, the information is ripe for evolutionary study