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Causes of Color in Minerals and Gemstones

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2018

Paul F. Hlava
Paul F. Hlava*
Affiliation:
Sandia National Laboratories
*
pfhlava@sandia.gov

Extract

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The colors that one sees when looking at a mineral or gemstone are due to the response of that person's eye to the energies of the light, the emission spectrum of the illumination, and, most importantly, physical phenomena in the material that cause some colors to be absorbed while others are undisturbed or enhanced. It is beyond the scope of this article to do more than touch on the physiology of the eye that allows us to see colors. Likewise, we will not dwell on the emission spectra of various light sources. Rather, we will concentrate on the various ways in which materials, especially minerals and their heights of perfection, gemstones, produce color from white light.

Type
Research Article
Information
Microscopy Today , Volume 9 , Issue 2 , March 2001 , pp. 14 - 17
Copyright
Copyright © Microscopy Society of America 2001

References

1. This work was supported by the United States Department of Energy under Contract DE-AC04-94AL85000. Sandia is a multiprogram laboratory operated by Sandia Corporation, a Lockheed Martin Company, for the United States Department of Energy.Google Scholar
2. Nassau, Kurt, ‘The Physics and Chemistry of Color: The Fifteen Causes of Color”, John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1983, 454 pp.Google Scholar
3. Nassau, Kurt, “The Causes of Color”, Scientific American, vol. 243, no. 4, Oct., 1980, pp. 124–154 (Provides an excellent summary of the subject.)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
4. Nassau, Kurt, “Cubic Zirconia: An Update”, Gems and Gemology, vol 17, no. 1, Spring 1981, pp. 9–19 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
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8. Fritsch, Emmanuel and R. Rossman, George, “An Update on Color in Gems, Part 3: Colors Caused by Band Gaps and Physical Phenomena”, Gems and Gemology, vol 24, no. 2, Summer 1988, pp. 81–102 - (Contains a table describing the causes of color for most gemstones.)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
9. Fritsch, Emmanuel et al., “Gem-Quality Cuprian-Elbaite Tourmalines from S§o Jose da Batalha, Paraiba, Brazil”, Gems and Gemology, vol 26, no. 3, Fall 1990, pp. 1139 - 205 “Gems and Gemology” contains numerous articles that include discussions of particular coloring mechanisms (such as ref. 9). Too many to be enumerated here.CrossRefGoogle Scholar