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Iridescence is caused by wave interference of light in microstructures or thin films. Examples of iridescence include soap bubbles, feathers, butterfly wings and seashell nacre, and minerals such as opal. Pearlescence is a related effect where some or most of the reflected light is white. The term pearlescent is used to describe certain paint ...
Iridescence, as explained by Thomas Young in 1803, is created when extremely thin films reflect part of the light falling on them from their top surfaces. The rest of the light goes through the films, and a further part of it is reflected from their bottom surfaces. The two sets of reflected waves travel back upwards in the same direction.
However, the soap film is as thin as the visible light wavelength, resulting in optical interference. This creates iridescence which, together with the bubble's spherical shape and fragility, contributes to its magical effect on children and adults alike. Each colour is the result of varying thicknesses of soap bubble film.
Thin-film interference caused by water-lipid boundary. Thin-film interference is a natural phenomenon in which light waves reflected by the upper and lower boundaries of a thin film interfere with one another, increasing reflection at some wavelengths and decreasing it at others. When white light is incident on a thin film, this effect produces ...
Decorative patterned plastic films based on reflective grating patches are inexpensive and commonplace. A similar color separation seen from thin layers of oil (or gasoline, etc.) on water, known as iridescence, is not caused by diffraction from a grating but rather by thin film interference from the closely stacked transmissive layers.
The amount of iridescence may vary from almost imperceptible to very visible. It most frequently occurs when the film is constructed with scratch resistance protection. When iridescence does occur in window film, the best way to stop it is to prevent the fluorescent light from illuminating the film or to use an alternative type of light.
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Iridescence is the 'play' or 'fire' of rainbow-coloured light caused by very thin regular structures or layers beneath the surface of a gemstone. Similar to a thin film of oil on water, these layers interfere with the rays of reflected light, reinforcing some colours and cancelling others. Iridescence is seen at its best in precious opal. [14]