Photonic crystals built by time in ancient Roman glass
Abstract
Ancient glass objects typically show distinctive effects of deterioration as a result of environmentally induced physicochemical transformations of their surface over time. Iridescence is one of the distinctive signatures of aging that is most commonly found on excavated glass. In this work, we present an ancient glass fragment that exhibits structural color through surface weathering resulting in iridescent patinas caused by silica reprecipitation in nanoscale lamellae. This archaeological artifact reveals an unusual hierarchically assembled photonic crystal with extremely ordered nanoscale domains, high spectral selectivity, and reflectivity (~90%), that collectively behaves like a gold mirror. Optical characterization paired with nanoscale elemental analysis further underscores the high quality of this structure providing a window into this sophisticated natural photonic crystal assembled by time.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Sep 18, 2023
- Source ID
- 10.1073/pnas.2311583120
Entities
People
- Arianna Traviglia
- Fiorenzo G Omenetto
- Giulia Franceschin
- Giulia Guidetti
- John Treadgold
- Lisa Chan
- Mauro Moglianetti
- Nathaniel Cohan
- Roberta Zanini
- Taehoon Kim
Organizations
- Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia
- Office of Naval Research
- Tufts University