unknown crystal fluoress after bluray is gone :o

[carulli]

I was searching for things that glow when I hit them with my bluray laser, I hit a large half cut amethyst egg like thing (see pic). When I hit the white part of the crystal it glows red and when I turn my laser of, it glows for another second, quickly fading. I will post a video.

 

[ElektroFreak]

Re: unknown crystal fluoress after bluray is gone

The white part of the crystal is Calcite. Calcite is highly reactive (fluorescent) to short-wave radiation like that produced by Blu-Ray lasers. It can glow many different colors depending on the impurities found in the crystal.

 

[carulli]

Re: unknown crystal fluoress after bluray is gone

heres the video.
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnIbx8YiwF8[/media]

 

[carulli]

Re: unknown crystal fluoress after bluray is gone

The white part of the crystal is Calcite. Calcite is highly reactive (fluorescent) to short-wave radiation like that produced by Blu-Ray lasers. It can glow many different colors depending on the impurities found in the crystal.

wow ill have to get me a large block, thanks

 

[laserwanabe]

Re: unknown crystal fluoress after bluray is gone

pretty cool, looks almost molten for a couple seconds.

 

[rocketparrotlet]

Re: unknown crystal fluoress after bluray is gone

The white part of the crystal is Calcite. Calcite is highly reactive (fluorescent) to short-wave radiation like that produced by Blu-Ray lasers. It can glow many different colors depending on the impurities found in the crystal.

Yeah, I noticed that yesterday! My optical calcite leaves a red trail behind it as I shine my blu-ray on it, and glows a beautiful translucent red throughout the whole crystal.

-Mark

 

[Kenom]

Re: unknown crystal fluoress after bluray is gone

 

[styropyro]

Re: unknown crystal fluoress after bluray is gone

Peanut butter does the same thing.

 

[Xplorer877]

Re: unknown crystal fluoress after bluray is gone

I'm gonna break out my rock collection right now. ;D

 

[Switch]

Re: unknown crystal fluoress after bluray is gone

Wow that is AWESOME!

 

[daguin]

Re: unknown crystal fluoress after bluray is gone

I'm gonna break out my rock collection right now. ;D

Unfocus the beam and use a diffraction grating.  The "dazzle" from the bright laser light can overpower the more subtle fluorescent colors.

A couple of the coolest mineral specimens I have are from the Himalaya tourmaline mine in San Diego County.  They have fluorapatite crystals INSIDE quartz crystals.  The fluorapatite fluoresces a bright orange  from inside the quartz.  

Also, glowing after the light source is removed is called phosphorescence

Peace,
dave

 

[chopper]

Re: unknown crystal fluoress after bluray is gone

My biggest piece of optical calcite does this too! A very red fluorescence witch fades slowly after laser is turned off. It also fluoresces with green laser pumping.

Pics:

Here is fluorescence with 405nm

Here is with 532nm, You can see the birefringence good in this pic. I think the 'double' beams are due to a reflection between the laser and the outer facet of the calcite (it only happens when the laser it right next to the calcite.

 

[rocketparrotlet]

Re: unknown crystal fluoress after bluray is gone

I tried out all of my pieces of calcite. Optical calcite glows red and leaves a red trail, and so does green calcite (except green calcite is even more fiery and beautiful), and 593.5nm calcite fluoresces light yellow. The color does not pervade the entire crystal like the other two. Blue calcite doesn't seem to do anything. It just makes the dot look blurrier. I'd take pictures, but my camera is messed up.

-Mark

 

[Kenom]

Re: unknown crystal fluoress after bluray is gone

Here is with 532nm,  You can see the birefringence good in this pic.  I think the 'double' beams are due to a reflection between the laser and the outer facet of the calcite (it only happens when the laser it right next to the calcite.

Actually that property (splitting the beam in two) is a property of the calcite. I learnt in school that you can determine the difference between calcite and quartz by looking through the crystals and the one that produces a double image is calcite. You would then of course get two beams from the same crystal.

 

[chopper]

Re: unknown crystal fluoress after bluray is gone

[quote author=chopper link=1227304871/0#11 date=1227460817]

Here is with 532nm,  You can see the birefringence good in this pic.  I think the 'double' beams are due to a reflection between the laser and the outer facet of the calcite (it only happens when the laser it right next to the calcite.

Actually that property (splitting the beam in two) is a property of the calcite.  I learnt in school that you can determine the difference between calcite and quartz by looking through the crystals and the one that produces a double image is calcite.  You would then of course get two beams from the same crystal.
[/quote]
I think your right.  I've done some experimenting and it seems that there exists a birefringent pair for two different light polarizations.  Must have something to do with the lattice structure.  I'm goin to try and make a video showing how a small rotation of a polarizer shifts from one pair to another...   Very interesting!


Edit:The polarizer is marked as circular,but it acts peculiarly. In one direction it seems to act like a circular polarizer, but in the other direction it seems to be a linerar polarizer...hmmm...

 

[chopper]

Re: unknown crystal fluoress after bluray is gone

Here is a video of me changing the polarization while watching the different pairs of beams fade in and out:

[media width=425]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfNC-qIXpvs[/media]

Sorry for the bad quality, my web-cam couldn't resolve each beam well...