Materials Research Lecture

The research in the Laboratory for Bio-inspired Photonic Engineering is focused on the fundamental aspects of
conceiving and developing multifunctional, hierarchically structured, bio-inspired material systems with
particular focus on stimuli-responsive and dynamically tunable optical performance. In this regard, we can
benefit in several ways from highly sophisticated material solutions that have convergently evolved in various
organisms. We explore design concepts found in biological photonic architectures, seek to understand the
mechanisms underlying morphogenesis of bio-optical systems, aim to devise viable manufacturing strategies
that can benefit from insight in biological formation processes and the use of established synthetic routines alike,
and ultimately strive to realize new photonic materials with tailor-made optical properties. Recently, we
invented color-tunable elastic photonic fibers, a fully synthetic material analogue of the photonic structures
found in a tropical fruit. We aim to establish these fibers as a material platform for applications in visual stress
and strain sensing, the optical assessment of mechanical properties of living tissue, or as components in dynamic
textiles and flexible photonic circuitry. In this presentation, I am going to provide an overview of our research
on biological photonic systems and I will discuss examples of photonic materials that exploit specific biological
light manipulation strategies.