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Digital near-infrared (NIR) cathodoluminescence (CL) imaging and image processing

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Published/Copyright: April 1, 2015
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American Mineralogist
From the journal American Mineralogist Volume 92 Issue 2-3

Abstract

Infrared luminescence is recognized in many minerals; however, few reported examples of infrared cathodoluminescence (CL) imaging are cited in the literature. Low-light digital web cameras can be modified by removing their infrared blocking filters to allow the imaging of minerals and rocks in the near-infrared (NIR). Preliminary investigation of a limited number of minerals has shown that many display cathodoluminesce in the NIR. Of the minerals found to have NIR-CL, the feldspars are notable as they commonly reveal hidden details of growth and alteration not easily observed with polarized light microscopy (PLM) or normal visible CL.

Cold-cathode devices for CL have been a standard part of petrography labs for over 30 years. With the development of SEM systems for CL work, many of these older units have fallen into disuse. With the recent availability of low-cost consumer digital cameras ranging from low-light web cameras to consumer-grade megapixel cameras, most of these older CL units may be brought back into service to provide a powerful tool for petrographic research. The ease of capture of digital imagery, combined with the open-source image-processing software ImageJ, can produce high-quality images of visible and NIR cathodoluminescence of minerals in thin sections. Benefits of consumer digital cameras include the low cost, an order of magnitude below cooled cameras, and the speed and simplicity of digital imaging over film. This paper will discuss the use of modified web cameras and consumer-grade megapixel cameras for image capture and processing of visible CL and NIR-CL images.

Keywords : Near-infrared; NIR; cathodoluminescence; CL; feldspar; kyanite; fluorapatite; REE
Received: 2005-12-9
Accepted: 2006-9-21
Published Online: 2015-4-1
Published in Print: 2007-2-1

© 2015 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Boston

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Combined cathodoluminescence hyperspectral imaging and wavelength dispersive X-ray analysis of minerals
  2. Identification of cathodoluminescence activators in zoned alkali feldspars by hyperspectral imaging and electron-probe microanalysis
  3. Ionoluminescence of leucophanite
  4. Digital near-infrared (NIR) cathodoluminescence (CL) imaging and image processing
  5. Significance of aluminum phosphate-sulfate minerals associated with U unconformity-type deposits: The Athabasca basin, Canada
  6. Hardness, toughness, and modulus of some common metamorphic minerals
  7. Diffusion compensation for argon, hydrogen, lead, and strontium in minerals: Empirical relationships to crystal chemistry
  8. Elastic anomalies accompanying phase transitions in (Ca,Sr)TiO3 perovskites: Part I. Landau theory and a calibration for SrTiO3
  9. Elastic anomalies accompanying phase transitions in (Ca,Sr)TiO3 perovskites: Part II. Calibration for the effects of composition and pressur
  10. Elastic anomalies accompanying phase transitions in (Ca,Sr)TiO3 perovskites: Part III. Experimental investigation of polycrystalline samples
  11. Patterns in the compositions of oxysalt and sulfosalt minerals, and the paradoxical nature of quartz
  12. Effect of variable carbonate concentration on the solidus of mantle peridotite
  13. Time-resolved structural analysis of K- and Ba-exchange reactions with synthetic Na-birnessite using synchrotron X-ray diffraction
  14. Heat capacity of synthetic hydrous Mg-cordierite at low temperatures: Thermodynamic properties and the behavior of the H2O molecule in selected hydrous micro and nanoporous silicates
  15. Organic anions in layered double hydroxides: An experimental investigation of citrate hydrotalcite
  16. The 6H-SiC structure model: Further refinement from SCXRD data from a terrestrial moissanite
  17. Cobalt incorporation in mullite
  18. Thermal expansion between 480 and 940 °C of Cr-doped mullites derived from single-phase precursors
  19. Armbrusterite, K5Na6Mn3+Mn2+14[Si9O22]4(OH)10·4H2O, a new Mn hydrous heterophyllosilicate from the Khibiny alkaline massif, Kola Peninsula, Russia
  20. Letter. An empirical scaling model for averaging elastic properties including interfacial effects
  21. Letter. Optical absorption spectra of ferropericlase to 84 GPa
  22. Letter. The acoustic emissions signature of a pressure-induced polytypic transformation in chlorite
  23. Letter. A new high-pressure CaGe2O5 polymorph with 5- and 6-coordinated germanium
  24. Letter. Terrestrial analogs of martian jarosites: Major, minor element systematics and Na-K zoning in selected samples
https://doi.org/10.2138/am.2007.2186
Keywords for this article
Near-infrared; NIR; cathodoluminescence; CL; feldspar; kyanite; fluorapatite; REE

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Combined cathodoluminescence hyperspectral imaging and wavelength dispersive X-ray analysis of minerals
  2. Identification of cathodoluminescence activators in zoned alkali feldspars by hyperspectral imaging and electron-probe microanalysis
  3. Ionoluminescence of leucophanite
  4. Digital near-infrared (NIR) cathodoluminescence (CL) imaging and image processing
  5. Significance of aluminum phosphate-sulfate minerals associated with U unconformity-type deposits: The Athabasca basin, Canada
  6. Hardness, toughness, and modulus of some common metamorphic minerals
  7. Diffusion compensation for argon, hydrogen, lead, and strontium in minerals: Empirical relationships to crystal chemistry
  8. Elastic anomalies accompanying phase transitions in (Ca,Sr)TiO3 perovskites: Part I. Landau theory and a calibration for SrTiO3
  9. Elastic anomalies accompanying phase transitions in (Ca,Sr)TiO3 perovskites: Part II. Calibration for the effects of composition and pressur
  10. Elastic anomalies accompanying phase transitions in (Ca,Sr)TiO3 perovskites: Part III. Experimental investigation of polycrystalline samples
  11. Patterns in the compositions of oxysalt and sulfosalt minerals, and the paradoxical nature of quartz
  12. Effect of variable carbonate concentration on the solidus of mantle peridotite
  13. Time-resolved structural analysis of K- and Ba-exchange reactions with synthetic Na-birnessite using synchrotron X-ray diffraction
  14. Heat capacity of synthetic hydrous Mg-cordierite at low temperatures: Thermodynamic properties and the behavior of the H2O molecule in selected hydrous micro and nanoporous silicates
  15. Organic anions in layered double hydroxides: An experimental investigation of citrate hydrotalcite
  16. The 6H-SiC structure model: Further refinement from SCXRD data from a terrestrial moissanite
  17. Cobalt incorporation in mullite
  18. Thermal expansion between 480 and 940 °C of Cr-doped mullites derived from single-phase precursors
  19. Armbrusterite, K5Na6Mn3+Mn2+14[Si9O22]4(OH)10·4H2O, a new Mn hydrous heterophyllosilicate from the Khibiny alkaline massif, Kola Peninsula, Russia
  20. Letter. An empirical scaling model for averaging elastic properties including interfacial effects
  21. Letter. Optical absorption spectra of ferropericlase to 84 GPa
  22. Letter. The acoustic emissions signature of a pressure-induced polytypic transformation in chlorite
  23. Letter. A new high-pressure CaGe2O5 polymorph with 5- and 6-coordinated germanium
  24. Letter. Terrestrial analogs of martian jarosites: Major, minor element systematics and Na-K zoning in selected samples
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