ABSTRACT Animals make use of a wealth of optical physics to control and manipulate light, for example, in creating reflective animal colouration1,2,3 and polarized light signals4. Their

precise optics often surpass equivalent man-made optical devices in both sophistication and efficiency5. Here, we report a biophysical mechanism that creates a natural full-visible-range

achromatic quarter-wave retarder in the eye of a stomatopod crustacean. Analogous, man-made retardation devices are important optical components, used in both scientific research and

commercial applications for controlling polarized light. Typical synthetic retarders are not achromatic, and more elaborate designs, such as, multilayer subwavelength gratings or

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CONTENT BEING VIEWED BY OTHERS SOLUTION-PROCESSED INORGANIC PEROVSKITE CRYSTALS AS ACHROMATIC QUARTER-WAVE PLATES Article 07 October 2021 FREE-STANDING BILAYER METASURFACES IN THE VISIBLE

Article Open access 01 April 2025 BROADBAND VECTORIAL ULTRATHIN OPTICS WITH EXPERIMENTAL EFFICIENCY UP TO 99% IN THE VISIBLE REGION VIA UNIVERSAL APPROXIMATORS Article Open access 04 March

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Download references ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This work was supported by grants from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), the

Asian Office of Aerospace Research and Development, the Australian Research Council and the National Science Foundation. AUTHOR INFORMATION AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS * Photon Science

Institute, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL, UK N. W. Roberts * School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Woodland Road, Bristol,

BS8 1UG, UK N. W. Roberts * Sensory Neurobiology Group, School of Biomedical Sciences and Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, 4072, Queensland, Australia

T.-H. Chiou & N. J. Marshall * Department of Biological Sciences, University of Maryland Baltimore County, 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, 21250, Maryland, USA T. W. Cronin Authors * N.

W. Roberts View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * T.-H. Chiou View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google

Scholar * N. J. Marshall View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * T. W. Cronin View author publications You can also search for this author

inPubMed Google Scholar CONTRIBUTIONS All authors contributed extensively to all aspects of the work presented in this paper. CORRESPONDING AUTHOR Correspondence to N. W. Roberts. RIGHTS AND

PERMISSIONS Reprints and permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE Roberts, N., Chiou, TH., Marshall, N. _et al._ A biological quarter-wave retarder with excellent achromaticity in

the visible wavelength region. _Nature Photon_ 3, 641–644 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2009.189 Download citation * Received: 28 July 2009 * Accepted: 25 September 2009 *

Published: 25 October 2009 * Issue Date: November 2009 * DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2009.189 SHARE THIS ARTICLE Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this

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