The iridescent blue of butterfly wings has inspired researchers to find a solution to a challenge previously considered insurmountable—dynamically tuning advanced optical processes at visible wavelengths.

The result is a patterned layer of material a fraction of the thickness of a hair, that could underpin radical new optical technology: applications of the technology are diverse, ranging from adaptive camouflage, through biosensing to quantum light engines for on-chip computing and secure communications.

The research is published in Science Advances. The first author is Dr. Mudassar Nauman, from the ARC Center of Excellence for Transformative Meta-Optical Systems (TMOS) and BluGlass Ltd.