Cathodoluminescence study of apatite crystals
-
Jocelyn Barbarand
and
Maurice Pagel
Abstract
Cathodoluminescence (CL) spectrometry represents a promising technique for the analysis of trace-element concentrations and distributions in minerals. However, a higher precision and a standardization of the recording conditions are required to use CL spectral data quantitatively. A significant step towards a more quantitative treatment of CL spectra is presented in this study.
A procedure to correct the spectra for the various efficiencies as a function of the wavelength of the CL detector is proposed using low-pressure mercury-vapor and quartz-iodine lamps. CL spectra presented in this study are thus corrected for the system response. Apatite CL spectra, which are commonly composed of two broad bands centered at 3.5 and 2.2 eV, are deconvoluted to isolate component bands and determine their areas. The crystallographic control by prismatic or basal sections of apatite on spectral intensities is significant and only prismatic sections should be used. Signal decrease associated with electron bombardment (electron beam aging) is exponential and appears drastic in the first hundred seconds but continues even after 15 minutes of beam bombardment.
All observed CL bands could be correlated with a specific activator [rare earth elements (REE) or manganese]. The 3.5 eV band is composed of three bands at 3.59 eV, 3.29 eV, and 2.87 eV. Ion microprobe results and comparison between CL and photoluminescence data support Ce3+ activation for the origin of these bands.
The relationship between CL band intensity and REE concentration measured by ion microprobe analysis demonstrates that CL also can provide semi-quantitative data for Gd3+, Ce3+, Dy3+, and Sm3+ when recording conditions are strictly controlled.
© 2015 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Boston
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- Graphical analysis of the orthopyroxene-pigeonite-augite-plagioclase equilibrium at liquidus temperatures and low pressure
- Synthesis and characterization of white micas in the join muscovite–aluminoceladonite
- Displacive components of the low-temperature phase transitions in lawsonite
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Articles in the same Issue
- Some mineral physics constraints on the rheology and geothermal structure of Earth’s lower mantle
- Biodurability of talc
- Microbial biomineralization in weathered volcanic ash deposit and formation of biogenic minerals by experimental incubation
- In situ atomic force microscopy study of hectorite and nontronite dissolution: Implications for phyllosilicate edge surface structures and dissolution mechanisms
- Na- and Cs-exchange in a clinoptilolite-rich rock: Analysis of the outgoing cations in solution
- The effects of time, temperature, and concentration on Sr2+ exchange in clinoptilolite in aqueous solutions
- Thermodynamics of ion-exchanged and natural clinoptilolite
- Thermochemical study of calcium zeolites–heulandite and stilbite
- Fe3+/ΣFe vs. FeLα peak energy for minerals and glasses: Recent advances with the electron microprobe
- Fibrous nanoinclusions in massive rose quartz: The origin of rose coloration
- Cathodoluminescence study of apatite crystals
- Hydrogen in spessartine-almandine garnets as a tracer of granitic pegmatite evolution
- Ab initio studies of possible fluorine-bearing four- and fivefold coordinated Al species in aluminosilicate glasses
- The nature of radiohaloes in biotite: Experimental studies and modeling
- Boron metasomatism of the Alta stock contact aureole, Utah: Evidence from borates, mineral chemistry, and geochemistry
- Low P-T Caledonian resetting of U-rich Paleoproterozoic zircons, central Sweden
- Graphical analysis of the orthopyroxene-pigeonite-augite-plagioclase equilibrium at liquidus temperatures and low pressure
- Synthesis and characterization of white micas in the join muscovite–aluminoceladonite
- Displacive components of the low-temperature phase transitions in lawsonite
- Radiographic study on the viscosity of the Fe-FeS melts at the pressure of 5 to 7 GPa
