Implementation of a pearl visual simulator based on blurring and interference

Influence of microstructure on optical behaviour of freshwater cultured pearls

“…2, it was found that the pearl also has a brick and mortar structure similar to that of the shell. 4,5,6 The thickness of the aragonite platelets was ,200 nm, which is coincident with the height of the steps on the surface of the pearl. It means that the steps on the surface are just the growth front of the same layer of aragonite platelets.…”

“…9 Snow et al also investigated the iridescence colour of pearls and found that the primary body colour of Pinctada maxima pearls arose from the interference of light within the binding regions of the aragonite tiles. 10 However, the optical effect of pearl is more complex besides iridescence, which had been shown by Raman and Krishnamurti 2 and Nagata et al 3,4 The aim of this paper is to illustrate the micro-and nanostructure that related with the optical effects of pearl. We observed the surface and cross-section morphology of pearls using laser scanning confocal microscope (LSCM), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and atomic force microscope (AFM).…”

“…There are also aragonite platelets in the form of polygonal shape on pearl surface just like nacre of seashells. 4,6 The sizes of the platelets of pearls usually ranged from 2 to 5 mm, which were smaller than those in nacre ranging 5-10 mm. 5 The pearl shown in Fig.…”

“…The above statement is quite different from previous viewpoint that the aragonite platelets are single crystals, and the organic matrix only exists in the interlamellar and intertabular parts. 1,4,7 It is well known that a material composed of two or more different optical phases would strongly diffuse the light traversing it. Hence, the origin of the diffusion halo is possibly attributed to the fact that the reflecting layers of pearl consist of discrete crystallites of aragonite in a network of organic matrix.…”

“…Nagata et al and Dobashi et al simulated the optical effect of pearls and succeeded in achieving a realistic representation of a pearl by means of four optical factors, namely interference component, mirroring component, texture component and blurring of light. 3,4 The mirroring component and texture component are the reflection effect of the exterior surface of pearls, just like the first optical effect raised by Raman, and the blurring of light is a concept that is similar with the whispering gallery effect mentioned by Raman and Krishnamurti. 2 However, the above mentioned researches did not present enough structure information that related with the optical effects of pearls, so the simulated results were a bit different from the actual peals.…”