Bell Labs Says Fish May Help Us Focus on Better Microlenses

Wonders never cease in science and the sources for inspiration are apparently boundless. Who would have thought that a breakthrough in nanotechnology would be embodied in a tiny plastic bull? And who would have imagined that chalk-like calcite crystals in the skeletons of marine creatures known as brittlestars would lead to better-designed optical elements for telecommunications networks. The surprising discovery that brittlestars use calcitic crystals to act as optical detectors, in addition to providing skeletal support, was made by an international team of researchers, including scientists from Bell Labs, the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, and will be described in an article that will be published in the August 23rd issue of Nature. The scientists say the calcite crystals are nearly perfect optical microlenses that perform better than any we can manufacture today.