Photos by Paul Caparatta
It was once said that photographers are “writers
of light” and that a daguerreotype is “a mirror with
a memory.” My interest in the wonders of light
extend beyond photography. It is through such
wonder that the bejeweled butterfly captured my
imagination all over again. A few things
happened to arouse my curiosity. I moved to
Texas where they are extremely abundant. I came
across an article about their connection to light.
(I will include a link to it at the end of this post.)
While looking into their influence on artists, I read
that Vladimir Nabokov thought of them as
creatures of exile. Exile interests me also, but I will
leave that topic for another time.
Clearly I’m not the only one that has been
enchanted by the butterfly. The allure of the
creature has captivated the minds of scientists
and artists alike since Aristotle’s time. The ancient
philosopher referred to the butterfly as "psyches”
or the breath and soul of anima. The magical
image of a fluttering butterfly drifting with the
wind is one that we’ve all witnessed. I commonly
associate the marvels of the butterfly with meta-
morphosis, transformation or migration. I now
associate it with the structure of light.
Butterflies are not only of interest to entomologist,
but are vastly interesting to physicists as well. In
physics, the butterfly has become synonymous
with photonics, the study of light. This is the
scientific detail that got me hooked more intensely
on the winged creature.
about light? The core of photonics has revolution-
ized our everyday existence in that it is the field
responsible for the scientific advancement of the
Light Emitting Diode (LED) used for computer
screens, traffic lights and car tail lights.
When physicists put the wing of a butterfly under
intense microscopes, they see scales with
photonic crystals and mirrors. It turns out that the
applications of the study of photonic crystals has
been integral to continual advancements in our
world of communications. The study of these
crystals has helped to advance physicists
understanding of how to funnel light more
efficiently through semiconductors such as fiber
optics, which are at the core of our über modern
day living. This includes the laser that reads
information on CDs and DVDs. Think of life
without them! Think of both as brought to you
via photonics.
As creatures of mimicry, humans have been
mimicking the butterflies capacity to signal one
another through the shimmering light of their
wings, via our fiber optics and LED laden equip-
ment. Can we think of our showcases
of communications as akin to the elegant
butterfly wing?
Here is a minor scientific explanation of how the
light reflecting butterfly wing works. When high-
energy ultraviolet radiation is absorbed, it is
reemitted as a lower-energy visible radiation,
which is known as fluorescence. The butterfly
wing, and the photonic crystals within the scales
of the wing, absorbs the ultraviolet radiation. The
light is then reemitted, via the crystals and mirrors
in the scales of the wing as fluorescence. On
some butterflies, this reemitted sunlight is seen
as blue or green light.
The dazzling color in butterfly wings has been a
mode of their signaling for millions of years, in
fact for the 30 to 130 million years butterflies
have existed. I think of the butterfly as prehistoric.
However, they possess an ultra sophisticated
system of communication through relays and
transmissions of light. In this regard, they were
light-years ahead us.
Through the study of butterfly signaling, scientists
have advanced our own communications.
Somehow the notion of being “writers of light”
has a greater relevance to the scale of a butterfly
wing. Our very modernity surrounds us with a
wide array of “mirrors with a memory” to write
on. We absorb and transmit light with every twist,
turn, invention or discovery down the road.
To see the National Geographic article that
sparked my imagination, follow this link:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/11/1117_
051117_butterflies.html
No comments:
Post a Comment