Shedding Light on Diatom Photonics by means of Digital Holography

TL;DR

This paper uses digital holography to study how diatom cell walls manipulate light, revealing internal light confinement and clarifying the origin of light interactions in these biological photonic structures.

Contribution

It introduces digital holography as a novel method to analyze light manipulation in diatom silica cell walls, providing new insights into their photonic functions.

Findings

Reconstructed light confinement inside diatom cytoplasm.

Clarified the origin of light interactions in diatoms.

Linked diatom behavior to their light manipulation capabilities.

Abstract

Diatoms are among the dominant phytoplankters in the worl's ocean, and their external silica investments, resembling artificial photonics crystal, are expected to play an active role in light manipulation. Digital holography allowed studying the interaction with light of Coscinodiscus wailesii cell wall reconstructing the light confinement inside the cell cytoplasm, condition that is hardly accessible via standard microscopy. The full characterization of the propagated beam, in terms of quantitative phase and intensity, removed a long-standing ambiguity about the origin of the light. The data were discussed in the light of living cell behavior in response to their environment.