Chemical Formula: LiAlSi2O6
Familly: Silicates
Status:
Crystal System: Monoclinic
Mineral for Display: Yes
Associated names (luminescent varieties, discredited names, synonymes etc.): hiddenite, kunzite,UV Type | Main color | Intensity | Observation Frequency |
---|---|---|---|
Long Waves (365nm): | Orange Red | Short Waves (254 nm): | Orange |
Other colors LW: | Orange , Tawn , Orange Red , Violet Pink , Salmon pink , | ||
Other colors SW: | Blue , |
Long Waves Picture (365nm)
OL (365 nm). Col. G. Barmarin; Photo: G. Barmarin
Galerie de photos:
...To the gallery (7 images in the gallery)
UV Type | Color | Intensity | Observation Frequency |
---|---|---|---|
Long Wave (365nm): | Orange | Mid Waves (320 nm): | Orange | Short Waves (254 nm): | Orange |
Thermoluminescence: Yes
Variety triphane (colorless), Kunzite (pink) and Hiddenite (green).
Most Common Activator: Mn2+
Other activators: Cr3+ , Fe3+ ,
Peaks in the spectrum (nm):
Mn2+ substituting for Li : broad band around 595 - 615nm (10ms) Cr3+ : 676, 690nm (peak) Fe3+ : 685nm (5 ms)
Spectrum: Michael Gaft, Petah Tikva, Israel. Plot: Institute of Mineralogy, University of Vienna, Austria, with permission of the authors.
Mn2+ is shown to be mainly in Li-sites rather than Al-sites and gives rise to a broad emission centered at 600 nm. In Cr-rich crystals only one R1 line is observed and Cr3+ emission is evident at room temperature. In green hiddenite crystals, Cr3+ emission is dominant at room temperature where the R-lines are superimposed on a broad-band emission. (Source: Luminescence spectroscopy of Cr3+ and Mn2+ in spodumene (LiAlSi2O6), WALKER G. see below). Spodumen is a monoclinic pyroxene with two not equivalent metal cation sites M1 and M2. The aluminum occupies the smaller M1 site, which is approximately octahedral (actual symmetry C2) with an average metal-oxygen distance of 1.92 A. The M2 site, occupied by Li, is also six-fold coordinated with an average metal-oxygen distance of 2.23 Å. Both Al and Li sites may be substitutionally replaced by ions of the transitional metals in various proportions. Both Mn2+ and Cr3+ centers have been identified in luminescence spectra by steadystate spectroscopy (Tarashchan 1978; Walker et al. 1997). Besides, long lived deep red luminescence was found supposedly generated by Fe3+ especially in the specimen fluorescing a bright lilac color under SW, light peach LW and having a violet (not pink) color in daylight. At room and lower temperatures only one emission band of Mn2+ occurs. It is very probable that Mn2+ ions in the spodumen matrix is present only in one site and that Mn2+ is mainly in Li-sites rather than Al-sites. (Gaft)
(*)Data are not exhaustive and are limited to the most important localities for fluorescence
Images:
http://www.mindat.org/show.php?name=Spodumene
http://webmineral.com/data/Spodumene.shtml
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