We propose a simple five-layer structure for creating red structural color, which has high color purity and high brightness. The design is based on the superposition of a silver substrate and multilayer silicon material. Absorption at the shorter wavelengths of the structure is effectively guaranteed, and reflection at the longer wavelengths is well enhanced. The red structural color has a peak reflectivity of 91% and a colorimetric purity of 0.9. Moreover, the designed structure displays angle-invariant performance up to 60°. This kind of structure scheme is environmentally friendly with low fabrication cost, and it can play an important role in a variety of fields, such as color displays and image sensors.

We report the femtosecond (fs) laser fabrication of biomimetic omnidirectional iridescent metallic surfaces exhibiting efficient diffraction for practically any angle of light incidence. Such diffractive behavior is realized by means of multi-directional low-spatial-frequency, laser-induced periodic surface structures (LSFL) formed upon exploiting the cylindrical symmetry of a cylindrical vector (CV) fs field. We particularly demonstrate that the multi-directional gratings formed on stainless steel surface by a radially polarized fs beam, could mimic the omnidirectional structural coloration properties found in some natural species. Accordingly, the fabricated grating structures can spatially disperse the incident light into individual wavelength with high efficiency, exhibiting structural iridescence at all viewing angles. Analytical calculations using the grating equation reproduced the characteristic variation of the vivid colors observed as a function of incident angle. We envisage that our results will significantly contribute to the development of new photonic and light sensing devices.