Inside Back Cover: Laser imaging polarimetry of nacre (J. Biophotonics 10/2018)

Abstract

Nacre, or mother of pearl, is a complex self‐assembled biomaterial that has high resistance against breakage. It is made of micronsized aragonite‐crystal tablets embedded in organic matter, in a brick‐and‐mortar type of structure. Analysis of the transformation of polarized light passing through this natural structure reveals the great uniformity of the layered arrangement of bivalve nacre (left image), and quite distinctly, the non‐uniform columnar structure of gastropod nacre (right image). Further details can be found in the article by Joshua A. Jones, Rebecca A. Metzler, Anthony J. D'Addario et, al. (https://doi.org/10.1002/e201800026).