Optical properties of natural biominerals—the spicules of the glass sponges

In the article are given the results of the researches of the glass sea sponges Hyalonema sieboldi and Ferronema sp. spicules as new object of nano-photonics. The distribution of refractive index over the cross section of spicule is given. It is shown that the presence of organosilicon lamination is the reason for the appearance periodic space modulation of the spicule material dielectric constant. With the excitation of basal spicules by the pulses of the second harmonic Nd : YAG—laser was observed a significant increase in the intensity of fluorescence in the long-wave range, with the maximum at the wavelength 770 nm, It is shown that the periodicity of axial cylindrical layers from silicon dioxide of nanometer scale, which is observed in the basal spicules, leads to the formation of the photon bandgaps. This makes it possible to consider the spicules of glass sponges as natural one-dimensional photon crystals.