On the wing of the moth Trichoplusia orichalcea a prominent, apparently highly reflective, golden spot can be seen. Scales from this area of the wing exhibit a regular microstructure resembling a submicrometer herringbone pattern. We show that a diffraction process from this structure is responsible for the observed optical properties, such as directionality, brightness variations, polarization, and color.

Scales on the wings of certain insects, such as Trichoplusia orichalcea, exhibit a surface micro structure resembling a fine diffraction grating. Diffraction of incident light by this structure is responsible for many of the optical properties of the wings of this moth, such as the metallic yellow color and the almost-specular reflection and polarization properties of the scattered radiation. It is shown that by the use of null ellipsometry the polarization characteristics can be used to obtain the optical constants of the scale material. Theoretical considerations and suitable experimental conditions are discussed and evaluated.