Jornal de Química Física e Biofísica
Acesso livre

Abstrato

Are Non-Linear Birefringent Biological Structures Able to Generate Optical Vortices?

Benedicto de Campos Vidal

In tendons, collagen fibers are structured with a helical supra-molecular organization and interact with structured light depicting intrinsic and form birefringence (FB). FB is an optical anisotropy of the permittivity that is being used in the construction of man- made devices to filling up practical purposes. In the present case the used biomaterial displayed highest levels of FB. Linear polarized monochromatic light, after traveling microscopic sections of collagen fibers, exhibit elliptically polarized front of light, with angular momentum, that after trespassing a second polarizer generated vortices images. Advanced polarized microscopy, structured light, was used in this study to detect and characterize the production of vertices images by collagen fiber as structured biomaterial. Microscopic sections used in the present study fulfilled all of the conditions for generating vortices. Here, it is shown, for the first time that vortex structures are generated by chiral supramolecular collagen fibers in birefringent bundles, and can be observed with a polarizing microscope. Additionally, it is hypothesized that the vortices in biological structures are part of a mechanism of signal transference from extracellular space to cells. Considering that the spatial distribution of collagen fibers and bundles in connective tissues may vary, it is assumed that the complexity of the corresponding vortex morphology may also vary. Finally, it is recommended that the structured characteristics of collagen fibers chirality and their optical anisotropic properties could be used as inspiration for new man-made structured devices.