Data from: Biomimicry of iridescent, patterned insect cuticles: comparison of biological and synthetic, cholesteric microcells using hyperspectral imaging

<p>Biological systems inspire the design of multifunctional materials and devices. However, current syynthetic replicas rarelyy capture the range of structural complexityy observed in natural materials. Prior to the definition of a biomimetic design, a dual investigation with a common set of criteria for comparing the biological material and the replica is required. Here, we deal with this issue by addressing the non-trivial case of insect cuticles tessellated with polygonal microcells with iridescent colors due to the twisted cholesteric organization of chitin fibers. By using hyperspectral imaging within a common methodology, we compare, at several length scales, the textural, structural and spectral properties of the microcells found in the two-band cuticle of the scarab beetle <i>Chrysina gloriosa</i> with those of the polygonal texture formed in flat films of cholesteric liquid crystal oligomers. The hyperspectral imaging technique offers a unique opportunity to reveal the common features and differences in the spectral-spatial signatures of biological and synthetic samples at a 6-nm spectral resolution over 400 nm-1000 nm and a spatial resolution of 150 nm. The biomimetic design of chiral tessellations is relevant to the field of non-specular properties such as deflection and lensing in geometric phase planar optics.</p>