Raman Microscopy for the Amateur Mineralogist.
| This page and the linked documents describe the construction, adjustment and use of a Raman microscope for the determination of minerals in rock sections. The availability of high performance laser cutoff filters and CCD detectors allows the development of such instruments with relatively few components at an affordable cost.. |
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Technical description of the Raman Microscope with first version of spectrograph.Page 1: Optical arrangement schematic. Page 2: Details of the design. Page 3: Beam splitter and filter. Page 4: First results and calibration. Page 5: References
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Raman Microscope version 2 with home build spectrograph.Improved performances of the spectrograph: wider spectral range, less field curvature... Page 6: design of the spectrograph. Page 7: Images and part lists. Page 8: tests, neon spectra. Page 9: tests, plastic spectra. Page 10: tests, the OH band.
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Raman spectra of mineral single crystals.The following pages show Raman spectra recorded with the system described above (old and new spectrograph) on single crystals. The spectra are compared to data from databases published on the web. Spectra recorded with the new spectrometer are marked with an asterisk. |
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Case study: Talc Chloritoid Garnet Shist On this page and the following ones I have used the Raman microscope to study the mineralogy of rock sections. The first specimen is a thick transparent section of a talc schist. A small part of the thin section of this rock is reproduced on the left side; the complete thin section can be seen HERE. The red arrows in pictures indicate the position of the laser spot for each spectrum. The objectives used for pictures is 2X or 4X. For Raman spectra recording, the objective is always 50X NA=0.85. The size of the spot is 2 to 5µ.
Page 1: Garnet - Chloritoid - Talc Page 2: Glaucophane - Rutile - Quartz - Apatite |
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Case study: Hornblende Mica Schist The specimen studied on the following three pages is a polished slab. The thin section of this rock is also available for pictures comparison.
Page 1 : Hornblende - Muscovite - Quartz - Calcite - Ilmenite Page 2 : Albite - Muscovite - Chamosite Page 3 : Calcite - Rutile - Goethite |
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Case study: A polished Section of Granite Quartz - Feldspar - Biotite
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