>>10852676You are correct, sir! These are scanning electron micrographs of precious opal. The perfectly arranged spheres form period dielectric stacks that have a directional photonic band gap which gives rise to structural color. The same mechanism is employed by butterflies and chameleons to produce color.
Pic related are diatoms which are single celled organisms responsible for 20-30% of oxygen production on earth and they live inside a genetically encoded photonic crystal not unlike the opal SEM in OP. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.
