X-ray Tomography and Chemical Imaging within Butterfly Wing Scales
- National Synchrotron Radiation Research Center, 101 Hsin-Ann Road, Hsinchu Science Park, Hsinchu 30077, Taiwan (China)
The rainbow like color of butterfly wings is associated with the internal and surface structures of the wing scales. While the photonic structure of the scales is believed to diffract specific lights at different angle, there is no adequate probe directly answering the 3-D structures with sufficient spatial resolution. The NSRRC nano-transmission x-ray microscope (nTXM) with tens nanometers spatial resolution is able to image biological specimens without artifacts usually introduced in sophisticated sample staining processes. With the intrinsic deep penetration of x-rays, the nTXM is capable of nondestructively investigating the internal structures of fragile and soft samples. In this study, we imaged the structure of butterfly wing scales in 3-D view with 60 nm spatial resolution. In addition, synchrotron-radiation-based Fourier transform Infrared (FT-IR) microspectroscopy was employed to analyze the chemical components with spatial information of the butterfly wing scales. Based on the infrared spectral images, we suggest that the major components of scale structure were rich in protein and polysaccharide.
- OSTI ID:
- 21043403
- Journal Information:
- AIP Conference Proceedings, Vol. 879, Issue 1; Conference: 9. international conference on synchrotron radiation instrumentation, Daegu (Korea, Republic of), 28 May - 2 Jun 2006; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.2436453; (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0094-243X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Physical and behavioral adaptations to prevent overheating of the living wings of butterflies
A New Sample Substrate for Imaging and Correlating Organic and Trace Metal Composition in Biological Cells and Tissues