Diamond weevil scale waffle structure

Photonic Waffle

The details of the diamond weevil’s photonic crystal structure becomes more evident under the increasingly powerful gaze of a scanning electron microscope.

In this image, we are viewing the scale edge-on, as if it were cut across like scissors to a piece of paper.

The waffle-like layer is about 5 microns thick (the scale bar, bottom right, represents 2 microns).