Description

Unlike stars in night sky in real space, these little bright stars stay in Fourier space. Nanometer scale periodicity in material results in certain points having stronger intensity in Small-Angle X-ray Scattering (SAXS) and appear in Fourier space through detector.

Bright 6-spot patterns reveal that the material has hexagonal mesostructures. Material used is mesostructured silica with Pluronic P123 triblock copolymer as a structure-directing agent, also known as SBA-15, UCSB's iconic work.