Database of luminescent Minerals

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FLUORITE

Chemical Formula: CaF2

Familly: Halides

Status: IMA-GP

Crystal System: Isometric

Mineral for Display: Yes

Associated names (luminescent varieties, discredited names, synonymes etc.):  chlorophane,  yttrofluorite,  yttrocerite,  Tiffany stone,  fluorine, 

Luminescence:

UV Type Main color Intensity Observation Frequency
Long Waves (365nm):      Blue Very StrongVery often
Mid waves (320 nm):      Blue MediumOften
Short Waves (254 nm):      Blue MediumOften
Other colors LW:                                                                 
Bluish White , Yellowish White , Pale Yellow , Yellow , Tawn , Red , Violet Pink , Green , Greenish , Violet , Greenish white , Violet blue , Yellowish ,
Other colors MW:     
Green ,
Other colors SW:                                                                      
White , Bluish White , Yellowish White , Pale Yellow , Yellow , Tawn , Red , Green , Greenish , Bluish Green , Violet , Greenish white , Violet blue , Yellowish ,

Daylight Picture


FLUORITE;
Blue Circle Cement Quarry, Eastgate, Weardale, North Pennines, County Durham, England, UK
Photo and Copyright:
Middleearthminerals.com
Used with permission of the author

Long Waves Picture (365nm)


FLUORITE;
Blue Circle Cement Quarry, Eastgate, Weardale, North Pennines, County Durham, England, UK
UVLW, Photo and Copyright:
Middleearthminerals.com
Used with permission of the author

 

Galerie de photos:

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     To the gallery (30 images in the gallery)

Phosphorescence (in the common meaning of the term) seen by naked eye:

UV Type Color Intensity Observation Frequency
Long Wave (365nm): Greenish white StrongRarely
Mid Waves (320 nm): Greenish white
Short Waves (254 nm): Greenish white
 

Triboluminescence: Yes

Thermoluminescence: Yes

Comments:

The classical fluorescing mineral but all fluorites are not luminescent under UV !


CHLOROPHANE variety : green thermoluminescence ;


YTTROFLUORITE variety: SW and LW : yellow, yellowish-white (cream);

 

Main Activator(s) and spectrum:

Most Common Activator: Eu2+

Other activators:            Organic impurities , Sm2+ , Ce3+ , Sm3+ , Eu3+ , Dy3+ , Ho3+ , Er3+ , Tb3+ , Pr3+ , Nd3+ , Yb3+ , Tm3+ ,

Peaks in the spectrum (nm):

Eu2+ repl. Ca2+: 423-425nm (associated with deep blue-violet fluorescence)
Sm2+ repl. Ca2+: 708, 733nm
Yb2+ repl. Ca2+: 550nm
Dy3+:468, 478, 575, 654, 658, 663, 671, 685nm
Tb3+:482, 484, 486, 492, 539, 543, 544, 546, 583, 588nm
Er3+:519, 522, 528, 551, 554nm
Sm3+:561nm
Eu3+: 574, 595, 618, 622, 700nm
Nd3+: 920nm
M-center(2F+Na+): large pic at 720-745 nm
MA center charge stabilized by O2−–F−  : 690 nm 
MA center charge stabilized by Na+–Ca2+ : 750nm


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

            ...

  To the spectrum gallery (18 spectra in the gallery)

Comments on activators and spectra:

Violet fluo associated with Eu2+ (420-423 nm) with peaks at 320 and 340nm (Ce3+),  decay time of Eu2+ is 600–800 ns
yellow fluo associated with Dy3+;
M-center: large pic at 720 nm;
Lifetime: 2μs ( @420nm);

λex = 415 nm is most suitable for measuring the Ho3+ emission beside the Er3+. 

Fluorite was one of the first mineral substances being investigated by George G. Stokes in 1852, hence the name fluorescence given at the phenomenon.

Fluorite is a reservoir for many of the rare earth elements. As early as 1881, it was pointed out that Cerium was present in fluorite.

In 1906, Urbain studied the cathodoluminescence of fluorite and ascribed the cause of fluorescence to RRE (Yttrium, praeseodymium, samarium, dysprosium, europium, terbium and also gadolinium and Ytterbium in chlorophane); Morse (1907), Tanaka (1924), Nichols (1928) and F. G. Wick also investigated the cause of luminescence of fluorite. 

The fusion of fluorescent fluorite (1100-1200°C) changes the spectrum markedly. Often the blue luminescence spectrum is changed to a more orange-red, showing sharp lines typical of RRE.

De Ment makes 2 groups in the luminescent fluorites:

group 1: single band in the UV at 300nm and 3 bands in the visible at 475, 508 and 578nm
group 2: two bands in UV at 280 and 300nm and strong peaks at 475, 510, 536, 548 and 578nm in the visible.

Radiation induced MA centers’ charge stabilized by Na+–Ca2+ is responsible of emission at 750nm and O2−–F− at 690 nm) (Tarashchan 1978, Gaft and Al. 2020).

Best Locality for luminescence(*):

(*)Data are not exhaustive and are limited to the most important localities for fluorescence

Bibliographical Reference for luminescence:

Luminescence Reference on internet:

Mineralogical Reference on internet:

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

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

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Note: While all due attention has been paid to the implementation of the database, it may contain errors and/or accidental omissions. By nature, the database will always be incomplete because science always evolves according to new analysis.
A request providing no result means only that no such reference exists in the database, but it does not mean that what you are looking for does not exist, just not to our knowledge. If you think you have found an error or omission, please let us know via the contact page being sure to cite the source of information.

 


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