Biologically-Produced Optical Materials

Lenses and optical coatings are limited in their application by the expense of their manufacturing, limited range of functionality and adaptability for individual lenses, and the inability of current manufacturing techniques to produce arbitrary, tailored refractive index (RI) compositions within a lens. Biological lenses have the potential to address each of these shortcomings: they are scalable, can adapt easily to different requirements through genetic or biochemical control, and can be printed or self-assembled to yield materials with any desired RI composition, such as GRadient INdex (GRIN) optics and transformation optics-based metamaterials. This project will lead to new foundational tools and scientific understanding around the construction and optical analysis of protein-based lenses.