Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Site Tools

  • AAAS
  • Subscribe
  • Feedback

Site Search

Search Advanced

Science 18 November 2005:
Vol. 310. no. 5751, pp. 1148 - 1150
DOI: 10.1126/science.1115248
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

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

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Cozzarelli Prize Winner@;DELIM@;From the Cover: Muller cells are living optical fibers in the vertebrate retina.
K. Franze, J. Grosche, S. N. Skatchkov, S. Schinkinger, C. Foja, D. Schild, O. Uckermann, K. Travis, A. Reichenbach, and J. Guck (2007)
PNAS 104, 8287-8292
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Biologically inspired artificial compound eyes..
K.-H. Jeong, J. Kim, and L. P. Lee (2006)
Science 312, 557-561
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)