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Science 18 November 2005:
Vol. 310. no. 5751, pp. 1148 - 1150
DOI: 10.1126/science.1115248
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Review

Inspirations from Biological Optics for Advanced Photonic Systems

Luke P. Lee* and Robert Szema

Observing systems in nature has inspired humans to create technological tools that allow us to better understand and imitate biology. Biomimetics, in particular, owes much of its current development to advances in materials science and creative optical system designs. New investigational tools, such as those for microscopic imaging and chemical analyses, have added to our understanding of biological optics. Biologically inspired optical science has become the emerging topic among researchers and scientists. This is in part due to the availability of polymers with customizable optical properties and the ability to rapidly fabricate complex designs using soft lithography and three-dimensional microscale processing techniques.

Berkeley Sensor and Actuator Center, Department of Bioengineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720–1762, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: lplee{at}berkeley.edu

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