Coherent light scattering by blue feather barbs

The structural colours of avian feather barbs are created by the scattering of light from the spongy matrix of keratin and air in the medullary layer of the barbs1,5. However, the precise physical mechanism for the production of these colours is still controversial1,3,4,6. Here we use a two-dimensional (2D) Fourier analysis of the spatial variation in refractive index of the blue feather barbs of the plum-throated cotinga (Cotinga maynana,...