Database of luminescent minerals 

CASSITERITE

Chemical formula: SnO₂

Family: Oxides and hydroxides

Status: IMA-GP

Crystal system : Tetragonal

Display mineral: NON

Luminescence:

Do you have a photo of this mineral you would like to see in the gallery? Contact us!

Phosphorescence (in the common sense of the term) observable with the naked eye:

No data

Activator(s) and spectrum:

Activator(s): Sn²⁺, Sn³⁺,  W,  

Peaks in the spectrum (nm):

Sn²⁺  : very large band at 475nm (200nm half-width) 

Sn²⁺ : very large band at 535 - 537nm (140nm half-width) 

Sn²⁺ : very large band at 550 nm (140nm half-width) 

Spectrum: Michael Gaft, Petah Tikva, Israel. Plot: Institute of Mineralogy, University of Vienna, Austria, with permission of the authors.

Spectrum Galery:

  
  Go to the galery (5 spectra)

Comments on spectrum and activators:

Blue luminescence: activator W

Yellow luminescence: Ti
(Based on Cathodoluminescence, Waychunas)

Under UV lamp excitation cassiterite samples are luminescent only at low temperatures.

But with powerful laser excitation (337 nm) even at 300 K or at low temperature (77k) bright intrinsic luminescence (Sn²⁺ and Sn³⁺) (Gaft)

The spectrum under powerful laser at 300K is similar to those at 77 K with lamp excitation.

Decay time of luminescence has two components, namely 100 ns and 280 ns (Gaft and Vorontsova 1982; Gaft et al. 1988).

Best localities for fluorescence (*):

• Aberfoyle Mine (Aberfoyle Tin Mine; Rossarden Tin Mine), Rossarden district, Tasmania, Australia (SW weak yellow);
• Viloco Mine (Araca mine), Loayza Province, La Paz Department, Bolivia (yellow-brown);

(*)The data are not exhaustive and are limited to a few remarkable localities for fluorescence

Bibliographic reference for luminescence:

• The Henkel Glossary of Fluorescent Minerals, Dr. Gerhard Henkel, Published by the FMS, 1989 ,
• Fluorescence: Gems and Minerals Under Ultraviolet Light, Manuel Robbins, 1994, Geoscience Press, ISBN 0-945005-13-X ,
• Luminescence Spectroscopy of Minerals and Materials, M. Gaft, R. Reisfeld, G. Panczer, Springer Editor, ISBN: 10 3-540-21918-8 ,
• Luminescent Spectra of Minerals, Boris S. Gorobets and Alexandre A. Rogojine, Moscow, 2002 ,

Mineralogical reference on the Internet:

  http://www.mindat.org/show.php?name=Cassiterite

  http://webmineral.com/data/Cassiterite.shtml

Internet Search:

  Image search on 'Google Images'

  Search for documents in all languages on Google

  Search on Wikipedia