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X-ray topography of natural tetrahedral diamonds

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 July 2018

A. Yacoot  and
M. Moore
A. Yacoot
Affiliation:
Dept. of Physics, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX
M. Moore
Affiliation:
Dept. of Physics, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX
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Abstract

The symmetry of diamond is still sometimes questioned. Most people agree that diamond belongs to the space group Fdm and therefore to point group . Some however, on account of the existence of a few natural tetrahedral diamonds, have assigned diamond to the point group 3m. We report here on an X-ray topographic investigation, using both conventional and synchrotron sources, of eleven natural tetrahedral diamonds. Two large specimens (from the Alpheus Williams' collection) were studied and found to consist of two portions, unequal in size, that were twinned on a (111) plane. Another diamond (from Professor R. A. Howie's collection) was found to contain two non-parallel (111) twin planes with the diamond filling the space between them, giving the crystal a tetrahedral morphology. Four tetrahedral diamonds (selected by Tolansky) were shown to be either twinned on a (111) plane, or cleavage fragments consisting of one component of a made or single crystals that had been plastically deformed. Similar results were found for some diamonds from the Argyle Mine. Our findings are consistent with diamond belonging to the holosymmetric class () rather than to the hemihedral class (3m).

Keywords

diamondX-ray topographysynchrotron source
Type
Mineralogy
Information
Mineralogical Magazine , Volume 57 , Issue 387 , June 1993 , pp. 223 - 230
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 1993

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Footnotes

*

Now at National Physical Laboratory, Teddington, Middlesex TW11 0LW, UK.

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