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The image-forming mirror in the eye of the scallop

Palmer, Benjamin A. ; Taylor, Gavin J. LU orcid ; Brumfeld, Vlad ; Gur, Dvir ; Shemesh, Michal ; Elad, Nadav ; Osherov, Aya ; Oron, Dan ; Weiner, Steve and Addadi, Lia (2017) In Science 358(6367). p.1172-1175
Abstract

Scallops possess a visual system comprising up to 200 eyes, each containing a concave mirror rather than a lens to focus light. The hierarchical organization of the multilayered mirror is controlled for image formation, from the component guanine crystals at the nanoscale to the complex three-dimensional morphology at the millimeter level. The layered structure of the mirror is tuned to reflect the wavelengths of light penetrating the scallop’s habitat and is tiled with a mosaic of square guanine crystals, which reduces optical aberrations. The mirror forms images on a double-layered retina used for separately imaging the peripheral and central fields of view. The tiled, off-axis mirror of the scallop eye bears a striking resemblance to... (More)

Scallops possess a visual system comprising up to 200 eyes, each containing a concave mirror rather than a lens to focus light. The hierarchical organization of the multilayered mirror is controlled for image formation, from the component guanine crystals at the nanoscale to the complex three-dimensional morphology at the millimeter level. The layered structure of the mirror is tuned to reflect the wavelengths of light penetrating the scallop’s habitat and is tiled with a mosaic of square guanine crystals, which reduces optical aberrations. The mirror forms images on a double-layered retina used for separately imaging the peripheral and central fields of view. The tiled, off-axis mirror of the scallop eye bears a striking resemblance to the segmented mirrors of reflecting telescopes.

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author
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Science
volume
358
issue
6367
pages
4 pages
publisher
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
external identifiers
  • pmid:29191905
  • wos:000416584000038
  • scopus:85036509045
ISSN
0036-8075
DOI
10.1126/science.aam9506
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
0cf8adfc-7a65-40dc-a3f0-7e37c2aa64b1
date added to LUP
2017-12-18 10:44:42
date last changed
2024-04-01 00:06:18
@article{0cf8adfc-7a65-40dc-a3f0-7e37c2aa64b1,
  abstract     = {{<p>Scallops possess a visual system comprising up to 200 eyes, each containing a concave mirror rather than a lens to focus light. The hierarchical organization of the multilayered mirror is controlled for image formation, from the component guanine crystals at the nanoscale to the complex three-dimensional morphology at the millimeter level. The layered structure of the mirror is tuned to reflect the wavelengths of light penetrating the scallop’s habitat and is tiled with a mosaic of square guanine crystals, which reduces optical aberrations. The mirror forms images on a double-layered retina used for separately imaging the peripheral and central fields of view. The tiled, off-axis mirror of the scallop eye bears a striking resemblance to the segmented mirrors of reflecting telescopes.</p>}},
  author       = {{Palmer, Benjamin A. and Taylor, Gavin J. and Brumfeld, Vlad and Gur, Dvir and Shemesh, Michal and Elad, Nadav and Osherov, Aya and Oron, Dan and Weiner, Steve and Addadi, Lia}},
  issn         = {{0036-8075}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{12}},
  number       = {{6367}},
  pages        = {{1172--1175}},
  publisher    = {{American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)}},
  series       = {{Science}},
  title        = {{The image-forming mirror in the eye of the scallop}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.aam9506}},
  doi          = {{10.1126/science.aam9506}},
  volume       = {{358}},
  year         = {{2017}},
}