In this paper, we investigate the impact of the periodicity along three orthogonal axes of the blue wing scales of Morpho butterflies, whereas most of the previous studies modeled the scale structure only considering one or two photonic crystal dimensions. Moreover, the previous optical studies of these scales focused on the light reflected by the wing, whereas we investigate the light propagation along the lamellae, this direction corresponding to the third dimension of the photonic crystal structure. Simulation results obtained using the finite-element method are compared with measurements and/or literature. These calculations, performed for different scale models and orientations, show that a significant part of the non-reflected light, essentially red and infrared, is guided by the lamellae towards the base of the scales where it can be more easily absorbed and the heat more quickly transferred to the hemolymph. This new phenomenon could contribute to the thermal balance of the insect and further illustrates the multifunctionality of the wings of Lepidoptera.

中文翻译：

---

Morpho 蝴蝶翅膀鳞片光子结构中的光导

在本文中，我们研究了沿 Morpho 蝴蝶蓝翼尺度的三个正交轴的周期性的影响，而之前的大多数研究仅考虑一两个光子晶体维度对尺度结构进行建模。此外，之前对这些尺度的光学研究集中在机翼反射的光上，而我们研究了光沿薄片的传播，这个方向对应于光子晶体结构的第三维。将使用有限元方法获得的模拟结果与测量值和/或文献进行比较。这些针对不同比例模型和方向进行的计算表明，非反射光的很大一部分，主要是红光和红外光，被薄片引导到鳞片的底部，在那里它更容易被吸收，热量更快地传递到血淋巴。这种新现象可能有助于昆虫的热平衡，并进一步说明鳞翅目翅膀的多功能性。