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Biophotonics

Blue butterflies feel the heat

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Bio-inspired by the nano-architectures of iridescent Morpho butterfly scales, scientists have demonstrated a highly sensitive infrared detector that can efficiently upconvert mid-infrared radiation to visible iridescence changes.

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Figure 1: Morpho butterfly scales, when doped with single-walled carbon nanotubes, efficiently upconvert mid-infrared radiation into visible iridescence changes.

GENERAL ELECTRIC

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. J. R. Sambles is at the School of Physics, University of Exeter, Exeter EX4 4QL,

    J. R. Sambles

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  1. J. R. Sambles
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Correspondence to J. R. Sambles.

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The author declares no competing financial interests.

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Sambles, J. Blue butterflies feel the heat. Nature Photon 6, 141–142 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2012.29

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