Unique light reflectors that mimic the structural colors of tiger beetles

In this paper, we describe a novel concept for creating multicolor light reflectors by mimicking the surface structures of tiger beetle shells. We prepared dimpled and multilayered films containing thin black layers, which had multi-angle reflectivity, by embossing a silicone microlens array. The surface structuring caused the reflected light to be scattered at multiple angles and thus visible at different viewing angles. This scattering system increases the visibility of the biological surface colors and blends the reflected colors of tiger beetles. These results demonstrate that combining multilayered structures with surface structuring produces unique optical properties.