Pupa Gilbert Research Group
(née Gelsomina De Stasio)

PIC Mapping

PIC-maps of three CaCO3 biominerals, in which hue and brightness indicate the in-plane c-axis angle (vertical = cyan) and the brightness represents the off-plane c-axis angle (into the beam = black, in plane = full brightness colors). PIC-mapping works equally well in calcite, aragonite, and vaterite, as shown above in Mytilus californianus prismatic calcite, in nacre from a Pinctada margaritifera pearl, and a spicule from the tunicate Herdmania momus.

Polarization-dependent Imaging Contrast (PIC) mapping is a method introduced by Gilbert and her group to display the orientation of the crystaline c-axes carbonate biominerals.

PIC-mapping has been steadily improving since it was first introduced it in 2007(1), and is now fully quantitative in 2D(1-10), and most recently in 3D(11-13).

  1. RA Metzler, M Abrecht, RM Olabisi, D Ariosa, CJ Johnson, BH Frazer, SN Coppersmith, PUPA Gilbert.
    Architecture of columnar nacre, and implications for its formation mechanism.
    Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 268102, 2007.
  2. PUPA Gilbert, RA Metzler, D Zhou, A Scholl, A Doran, A Young, M Kunz, N Tamura, SN Coppersmith.
    Gradual Ordering in Red Abalone Nacre.
    J Am Chem Soc 130, 17519, 2008.
  3. CE Killian, RA Metzler, YT Gong, IC Olson, J Aizenberg, Y Politi, FH Wilt, A Scholl, A Young, A Doran, M Kunz, N Tamura, SN Coppersmith, PUPA Gilbert.
    The mechanism of calcite co-orientation in the sea urchin tooth.
    J Am Chem Soc 131, 18404, 2009.
  4. PUPA Gilbert, A Young, SN Coppersmith.
    Measurement of c-axis angular orientation in calcite (CaCO3) nanocrystals using x-ray absorption spectroscopy.
    Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 108, 11350, 2011.
  5. CE Killian, RA Metzler, YUT Gong, TH Churchill, IC Olson, V Trubetskoy, MB Christensen, JH Fournelle, F De Carlo, S Cohen, J Mahamid, FH Wilt, A Scholl, A Young, A Doran, SN Coppersmith, PUPA Gilbert.
    Self-sharpening mechanism of the sea urchin tooth.
    Adv Funct Mater 21, 682, 2011.
  6. PUPA Gilbert.
    Polarization-dependent Imaging Contrast (PIC) mapping reveals nanocrystal orientation patterns in carbonate biominerals.
    J Electr Spectrosc Rel Phenom, special issue on Photoelectron microscopy, Time-resolved pump-probe PES 185, 395, 2012.
  7. IC Olson, R Kozdon, JW Valley, PUPA Gilbert.
    Mollusk shell nacre ultrastructure correlates with environmental temperature and pressure.
    J Am Chem Soc 134, 7351−7358, 2012.
  8. IC Olson, RA Metzler, N Tamura, M Kunz, CE Killian, PUPA Gilbert.
    Crystal lattice tilting in prismatic calcite.
    J Struct Biol 183, 180, 2013.
  9. IC Olson, AZ Blonsky, N Tamura, M Kunz, PUPA Gilbert.
    Crystal nucleation and near-epitaxial growth in nacre.
    J Struct Biol 184, 454, 2013. JOURNAL COVER.
  10. PUPA Gilbert Photoemission spectromicroscopy for the biomineralogist In Biomineralization Sourcebook, Characterization of Biominerals and Biomimetic Materials; E DiMasi, LB Gower, Eds.; CRC Press: Boca Raton, FL, 2014, p 135.
  11. RT DeVol, RA Metzler, L Kabalah-Amitai, B Pokroy, Y Politi, A Gal, L Addadi, S Weiner, A Fernandez-Martinez, R Demichelis, JD Gale, J Ihli, FC Meldrum, AZ Blonsky, CE Killian, CB Salling, AT Young, MA Marcus, A Scholl, A Doran, C Jenkins, HA Bechtel, PUPA Gilbert.
    Oxygen spectroscopy and Polarization-dependent Imaging Contrast (PIC)-mapping of calcium carbonate minerals and biominerals.
    J Phys Chem B 118, 8449, 2014.
  12. RT DeVol, C-Y Sun, MA Marcus, SN Coppersmith, SCB Myneni, PUPA Gilbert.
    Nanoscale Transforming Mineral Phases in Fresh Nacre.
    J Am Chem Soc 137, 13325, 2015.
  13. B Pokroy, L Kabalah-Amitai, I Polishchuk, RT DeVol, AZ Blonsky, C-Y Sun, MA Marcus, A Scholl, PUPA Gilbert.
    Narrowly distributed crystal orientation in biomineral vaterite.
    Chem Mater 27, 6516, 2015.