Multihyperuniform Particle Composites Inspired by Avian Photoreceptor Patterns for Optical Applications

TL;DR

The paper addresses designing robust, tunable disordered photonic materials by extending hyperuniformity to multispecies (multihyperuniform) systems inspired by avian photoreceptor mosaics. It adopts a cherry-pit packing framework with hard-core exclusion and interspecies soft-shell repulsion activated at a relaxation density $\phi_r$, followed by energy minimization to produce configurations with $S(\mathbf{k})\to0$ for small $|\mathbf{k}|$. The study shows that multihyperuniform states emerge across 2–5 species, with four-species stealthy hyperuniformity ($S(\mathbf{k})\approx0$ for $|\mathbf{k}|<K^*$) and mapping to multifunctional composites enabling isotropic structural coloration, enhanced absorption quantified by $\Gamma(k_c)$, and engineered dielectric responses $\varepsilon_e(k_q)$. This design principle offers robust, tunable, and scalable optical materials with potential biomimetic applications and broad technological impact.

Abstract

Hyperuniform materials, characterized by anomalously suppressed long-wavelength density fluctuations, exhibit unique optical and photonic properties distinct from both crystalline and random media. While most prior studies have focused on single-species systems, we investigate the broader class of \textit{multihyperuniform} systems inspired by biological photoreceptor mosaics. Using particle-based models with varying species number, size ratios, and interaction competition, we demonstrate that multispecies mixtures can achieve robust and stealthy hyperuniform configurations, even in highly disordered states. We further show how these configurations can be mapped to multifunctional composites with tailored optical responses, including isotropic structural coloration, enhanced absorption, and engineered dielectric properties that facilitate transmission while suppressing scattering. Our results highlight multihyperuniformity as a generalizable design principle for multifunctional disordered photonic materials, opening avenues for robust, tunable, and scalable optical applications.

Figures (8)

• Figure 1: Illustration of the cherry-pit packing model of a 3-species systems, in which short-range hard-core repulsion is between any pair of particles with different radius and long-range soft-shell repulsion is only between particles of the same species.
• Figure 2: A binary system with $N=300$, a 1:1 number ratio at $\phi_f \approx 0.7$. Size ratio of large (black) to small (red) particles is 2:1. Left panel: Hard-core interactions lead to segregation of the large and small particles into clusters of same type. Right panel: Soft-shell interactions spread out the particles, leading to a more uniform distribution.
• Figure 3: Final configurations of a binary system with $N=200$, a number ratio of 1:1, a size ratio 2:1, at $\phi_f \approx 0.8$ associated with varying relaxation densities from $\phi_r =$ 0.2 to 0.775
• Figure 4: Configurations of binary systems with $N = 300$ particles and varying large-to-small number ratio $\gamma$ at increasing density $\phi =$0.05-0.65. The size ratio of large to small particles is 2:1.
• Figure 5: Statistics for $N = 300$ particle binary systems with varying large-to-small number ratios at termination density $\phi_f = 0.65$. From top to bottom, graphs correspond to the pair correlation function $g_2(r)$, static structure factor $S(k)$, number variance $\sigma^2_N(R)$, and nearest neighbor distribution $n(r)$.