Evidence for a dispersion relation of optical modes in the cuticle of the scarab beetle Cotinis mutabilis

Abstract

© 2014 Optical Society of America.Variable angle Mueller matrix spectroscopic ellipsometry is used to study the properties of light reflected from the exoskeleton (cuticle) of the scarab beetle Cotinis mutabilis. For unpolarized incident light, the ellipticity and degree of polarization of the reflected light reveal a lefthanded helical structure in the beetle cuticle. Analysis of the spectral position of the maxima and minima in the interference oscillations of the Mueller-matrix elements provides evidence for a dispersion relation similar to that of optical modes in chiral nematic liquid crystals calculated within a two-wave approximation. Additionally, a structural model for the cuticle of C. mutabilis is derived from the properties of the optical modes for nonattenuated propagation or selective reflection.