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Anthony Fiorito working in a lab at Florida Polytechnic University<\/p>\nPOLK COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) \u2014 A 20-year-old student at Florida Polytechnic University is a published scientist after he and his professor discovered peacock feathers can be used in laser physics.<\/p>\n
\u201cEssentially, what we found was that you can use peacock feathers to create miniature lasers,\u201d said Anthony Fiorito, a senior engineering physics major at Florida Polytechnic University.<\/p>\n
The research found that the feathers, when infused with special fluorescent dye, can emit laser light at specific, consistent colors.<\/p>\n
Anthony Fiorito working in a lab at Florida Polytechnic University<\/p>\n
\u201cI do remember, it was very funny because we were trying to think of different things that have structural color and we were like, oh yeah, peacock feathers,\u201d said Fiorito.<\/p>\n
Fiorito worked on the research with Dr. Nathan Dawson, associate professor of engineering and physics at Florida Poly, using a grant from the National Science Foundation.<\/p>\n
The team was using tropical fish as an organic material for the laser research before turning to peacock feathers.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou try something, but you never know that it\u2019s not going to work until it doesn\u2019t work. It is kind of like you\u2019re gambling with your time. It\u2019s very fun,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
After the discovery, the team collected data and checked their work to make sure their scientific breakthrough wasn\u2019t a fluke.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor us, it was a very drawn-out process. We had to insist on the fact that the emission was not random,\u201d said Fiorito.<\/p>\n