The wings of this parasitoid wasp shows various thickness zones, resulting in nice series of colours.
A detailed analysis is given here.
Mitutoyo 20x NA 0.42, tube lens165mm (Thorlabs)
Illumination: directed white
Portrait of this wasp is shown here
Looking close... on fridays
multicoloured abstract
Tags: parasitoid wasp insect wings interference colours thin film interference extreme macro macro multicoloured abstract Looking close... on Friday
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The discussion below refers to the following foto:
Wing of parasitoid wasp
Portrait of this wasp is shown here
Upper figure: 3 examples of reflection spectra.
White: The thickest part of the wing (gray) shows so many wiggles in the spectrum, that it appeares neutral grey for the eye (center part of the wing). Thickness (almost) 1.5 Microns
Green: somewhere in between, thickness 631 nm (which corresponds to one wavelength of visible (green) light. Note that there are several green regions, cf. discussion below.
Blue: Light blue at the very bottom of the smaller wing. This is the thinnest region, with only 260nm thickness.
Lower figure: From this (simulated) "wing" you can see, that the mapping color->thickness is not unique. Especially with growing thickness, green and magenta regions appeare periodically (albeit with vanishing saturation, as thickness increases). This effect can be seen nicely in the real wing (upper wing, start from right to left)
The analysis was made with the following optics:
Mitutoyo M Plan Apo 100x NA 0.70 tube lens: Thorlabs 165mm
Illumination: white coaxial lightning
Tags: parasitoid wasp insect wings interference colours thin film interference extreme macro
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Calcium oxalate crystals in onion peel.
The crystals have a length of typical 30-40 microns (0.035 mm). They are especially abundant in the outer layers of onions (and garlic).
Macro Mondays: Peel
Mitutoyo 50x, NA 0.55, tube lens: 165mm (Thorlabs)
Illumination: polarized and oblique
Image size: 0.9 mm
Tags: Macro Mondays Peel Onion peel Microscopy polarized light Micro crystals Mitutoyo calcium oxalat
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Feather of a male duck
Mitutoyo 50x NA 0.55 tube lense 125mm (Raynox)
Illumination: Oblique diffused
Tags: interference colours Mitutoyo extreme macro macro duck feather
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Green aphid (wing) (Aphidoidea sp.)
Illumination: coaxial (pure epi-illumination with white light (halogen lamp)
Mitutoyo 50x NA 0.55, tube lens ITL200 (Nikon)
Illumination: coaxial (pure epi-illumination with white light (halogen lamp)
The wings of aphids are rather thin (about 500nm), and also very rough (+-160nm). Thats why they show up with rather small regions of the same color (in epi-illumination at high magnification), leading to the impression of psychedelic art.
See the complete animal here
Another part of the wing
Tags: aphid interference colours rainbow Mitutoyo extreme macro macro Psychedelic Art
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