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Tensors and matrices in optical mineralogy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 July 2018

A. Peckett
A. Peckett*
Affiliation:
Department of Geological Sciences, University of Durham, South Road, Durham, DH1 3LE, UK
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Abstract

A series of matrix operations is described which enables the following optical data to be calculated for plane polarized light perpendicularly incident on a section of a transparent or opaque mineral: 1. vibration directions and refractive indices of anisotropic transparent minerals: 2. reflectivities and the state of polarization of light reflected from anisotropic opaque minerals. The data needed are the dielectric tensor, its orientation with respect to the crystal axes, the unit cell parameters and the direction of the incident light. The mathematical techniques involve the manipulation of matrices, the determination of eigenvalues and eigenvectors and, for opaque minerals, the manipulation of complex numbers. All operations can be carried out with the aid of some of the recent electronic calculators which have built-in matrix algebra procedures and complex arithmetic.

Keywords

tensorsmatricesoptical propertiesolivinediopsidecovellinestibnite
Type
Mineralogy
Information
Mineralogical Magazine , Volume 51 , Issue 363 , December 1987 , pp. 655 - 663
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 1987

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