The image-forming mirror in the eye of the scallop

Benjamin A. Palmer; Gavin J. Taylor; Vlad Brumfeld; Dvir Gur; Michal Shemesh; Nadav Elad; Aya Osherov; Dan Oron; Steve Weiner; Lia Addadi

doi:10.1126/science.aam9506

The image-forming mirror in the eye of the scallop

Benjamin A. Palmer, Gavin J. Taylor, Vlad Brumfeld, Dvir Gur, Michal Shemesh, Nadav Elad, Aya Osherov, Dan Oron, Steve Weiner, Lia Addadi

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

95 Scopus citations

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 the segmented mirrors of reflecting telescopes.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1172-1175
Number of pages	4
Journal	Science
Volume	358
Issue number	6367
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aam9506
State	Published - 1 Dec 2017
Externally published	Yes

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title = "The image-forming mirror in the eye of the scallop",

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{\textquoteright}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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AU - Palmer, Benjamin A.

AU - Taylor, Gavin J.

AU - Brumfeld, Vlad

AU - Gur, Dvir

AU - Shemesh, Michal

AU - Elad, Nadav

AU - Osherov, Aya

AU - Oron, Dan

AU - Weiner, Steve

AU - Addadi, Lia

PY - 2017/12/1

Y1 - 2017/12/1

N2 - 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.

AB - 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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The image-forming mirror in the eye of the scallop

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