The Blue Morpho butterfly owes its spectacular blueness to iridescence, rather than pigments.
The basis for iridescent color in these butterflies is due to structures on or in the surface of the wings. These color-producing structures act as a diffraction grating which causes constructive and destructive interference of the incident light.
This principle is being applied to flat panel displays. Iridigm Display Corporation is developing a color PDA display that mimics the color structures found in butterfly wings and hummingbird feathers. The display (called iMoD) contains no dyes, pigments or filters, and produces color solely by the interference of light. The iMoD pixels used are tiny paired mirrors measuring 30 by 40 microns. Unlike LCD pixels they draw no current except when they are changing color. The optical distance between each set of paired mirrors is electronically controlled, and determines which wavelengths interfere with each other, either constructively or destructively.
The benefits of the iMoD display system are high brightness, fast pixel response time, plus a wide viewing angle. The iMoD display has extremely low power consumption, thus making it ideal for mobile devices.
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Imagine a TV as vivid as a butterfly’s wings. Perfect for watching documentaries about butterflies.
I was fasinated to read about iridescence, responsible for some of the most beautiful things I can think of.
I wonder if the people who developed TV back in the 30′s ever dreamed that picture quality could get so good.