Optical fibres based on natural biological minerals - sea sponge spicules
- Institute for Automation and Control Processes, Far-Eastern Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Vladivostok (Russian Federation)
- V.I. Il'ichev Pacific Oceanological Institute, Far-Eastern Division of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Vladivostok (Russian Federation)
- Institute of Chemistry, Far East Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Vladivostok (Russian Federation)
- Institute of Marine Biology, Far Eastern Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, Vladivostok (Russian Federation)
A complex study of spicules of glass sponges Hyalonema sieboldi and Pheronema sp. is performed. It is shown that skeletal spicules represent a bundle of composite fibres cemented with silicon dioxide, which imparts a high mechanical strength to spicules. The presence of a layered organosilicon structure at the nanometre scale in the spicule cross section gives rise to a periodic spatial modulation of the permittivity of the spicule material, which allows one to treat spicules as one-dimensional photonic crystals. Upon excitation of basal spicules by second-harmonic pulses from a Nd:YAG laser, we observed a considerable increase in the fluorescence intensity in the long-wavelength region with a maximum at 770 nm, saturation and anomalously large fluorescence lifetimes. (fibre optics)
- OSTI ID:
- 21185857
- Journal Information:
- Quantum Electronics (Woodbury, N.Y.), Vol. 38, Issue 1; Other Information: DOI: 10.1070/QE2008v038n01ABEH013579; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1063-7818
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Calcium transport into the cells of the sea urchin larva in relation to spicule formation
A comparison of free-living and sponge-associated bacterial communities from a remote oceanic island with a focus on calcareous sponges