unknown crystal fluoress after bluray is gone :o

Re: unknown crystal fluoress after bluray is gone

Now that is neat. I need to find me a bit of that. The calcite I have doesn't flouresce at all.

Re: unknown crystal fluoress after bluray is gone

I have a smaller piece that doesn't fluoresce.  I found that one at the local rock show last year.  I was was amazed when it fluoresced red with my 5mW green pointer.  I never even thought about it again until I saw a thread about it a few weeks back.  It really is pretty cool!  

I'm gonna be the crazy guy at this years rock show in Feb. walking around with a 405nm laser shining it on all the crystals and mineral    making sure not to blind anyone though...

I wish the camera didn't overload when looking at the dots.  It's cool to see the four that make a square and have the pairs fade in and out!

EDIT: I just realized a connection to my Optical Communication class.  Last class we started talking about electro-optics.  Some birefringent materials change their direction dependent refractive index in an electric field.  This is due to changes in the orientation of the crystal lattice.  This phenomena is used to make electro-optic switches.  By electrically 'rotating' the polarization, the path of linearly polarized light can be selected.  By putting optically transparent electrodes on each end of the crystal of the electro-optic material the voltage between the electrode can be manipulated to change the path that the light takes!  

Sorry if that's too technical, but it just made me understand the phenomena better an I am excited to have understood it!

Re: unknown crystal fluoress after bluray is gone

chopper said:

I'm gonna be the crazy guy at this years rock show in Feb. walking around with a 405nm laser shining it on all the crystals and mineral    making sure not to blind anyone though..

Click to expand...

Which rock show? Where?

Peace,
dave

Re: unknown crystal fluoress after bluray is gone

The Gem, Mineral and Fossil Show and Sale at the NY State Museum in Albany, NY.  I think it's always the 3rd weekend in February every year.  The next one is February 23 and 24, 2009.  Here's the flier that will pop up some time in January:
http://www.albanyrockclub.com/node/874

It's always a good time!

The women always like it too since they get to look at "shiny's" (the why my ex referrs to jewelry and gems) and they do the New York in Bloom flower show at the same time.

Re: unknown crystal fluoress after bluray is gone

Would that be okay, taking a laser to a rock show? Couldn't you damage people's eyes?

-Mark

Re: unknown crystal fluoress after bluray is gone

I was thinking that too... Maybe I test to see if a 5mW 405nm is powerful enough to see the fluorescence. Or maybe 10-20mW completely unfocused.

Re: unknown crystal fluoress after bluray is gone

10-20mW should be safe close up, as long as it isn't tightly focused.

-Mark