Dresden 2014 – wissenschaftliches Programm

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O: Fachverband Oberflächenphysik

O 11: Nanostructures at Surfaces I

O 11.10: Vortrag

Montag, 31. März 2014, 12:45–13:00, WIL C107

Large-scale Replication of Optical Nanostructures Inspired by Blue Morpho Butterflies — •Claudia Zeiger, Norbert Schneider, Alexander Kolew, Marc Schneider, Radwanul H. Siddique, Hendrik Hölscher, and Matthias Worgull — Institute of Microstructure Technology (IMT), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)

Morpho butterflies show an impressive iridescent blue color which does not originate from pigmentation but from sophisticated nanostructures. The "Christmas-tree-like" morphology of these structures has been investigated for a long time since numerous technical applications could benefit from the large-scale replication of Morpho-like structures, ranging from pigment-free colors to thermal imaging sensors and chemical sensors. However, the large-scale replication of sophisticated 3D micro- and nanostructures faces difficulties even today.

We developed a technology to overcome this problem and to fabricate such structures on large scales in a cost-effective way. Our unique combination of hot embossing and microthermoforming allows the easy implementation of other non-optical features like superhydrophobicity and self-cleaning as well. Hot embossing is applied to imprint nanostructures in a polymer foil which is subsequently shaped on the micro-scale by microthermoforming. This process enables the replication of structure sizes several orders of magnitude smaller than conventional thermoforming. We demonstrate the features of this technique by manufacturing optical structures inspired by Morpho butterflies as well as refractive gratings.