ABSTRACT
This chapter is devoted to the presentation of the results of complex studies performed in the study of the morphology and physico-chemical characteristics of the material of the spicules of deep-sea marine glass sponges aimed at finding promising technologies for their biomimetic modeling and obtaining new nanostructured functional materials, including photonic devices and systems. It can therefore be assumed that the spicules of marine glass sponges are one-dimensional natural photonic crystals with spatial chirping of the radial periodic structure. It is the conical shape of the layers in such photonic crystals that varies in length and makes them poorly conductive from the thick end of the spicule to the thin as a result of strong dispersion of radiation into the surrounding medium through the cladding. Conversely, it allows the spicules to capture light through the cladding and transform it in the direction from the thin end of the spicule to the thick one with small losses.
