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APS » Journals » Phys. Rev. Lett. » Volume 98 » Issue 26
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Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 268102 (2007) [4 pages]

Architecture of Columnar Nacre, and Implications for Its Formation Mechanism

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Rebecca A. Metzler1, Mike Abrecht2, Ronke M. Olabisi1, Daniel Ariosa3, Christopher J. Johnson4, Bradley H. Frazer2, Susan N. Coppersmith1, and P. U. P. A. Gilbert1,*
1Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA
2Synchrotron Radiation Center, 3731 Schneider Drive, Stoughton, Wisconsin 53589, USA
3Institute for the Physics of Complex Matter, EPF-Lausanne, CH-1015 Switzerland
4Program in Cellular and Molecular Biology & Department of Animal Health and Biomedical Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA

Received 30 March 2007; published 29 June 2007

See accompanying Physics Focus

We analyze the structure of Haliotis rufescens nacre, or mother-of-pearl, using synchrotron spectromicroscopy and x-ray absorption near-edge structure spectroscopy. We observe imaging contrast between adjacent individual nacre tablets, arising because different tablets have different crystal orientations with respect to the radiation’s polarization vector. Comparing previous data and our new data with models for columnar nacre growth, we find the data are most consistent with a model in which nacre tablets are nucleated by randomly distributed sites in the organic matrix layers.

© 2007 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.98.268102
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.98.268102
PACS:
87.68.+z, 61.10.Ht

*Previously published as Gelsomina De Stasio.

Corresponding author.

pupa@physics.wisc.edu

 
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