Using strain birefringence in diamond to estimate the remnant pressure on an inclusion

Raman spectroscopy is used to identify minerals in isolated sealed inclusion chambers in some New South Wales (Australia) diamonds and to determine the remnant internal pressure on each inclusion with values of each: 3.03, 3.31 and 3.54 - 3.62  GPa for coesite, 0.42, 1.36 and 2.3 GPa for diopsidic o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inAustralian journal of earth sciences Vol. 55; no. 2; pp. 159 - 165
Main Authors Barron, L. M., Mernagh, T. P., Barron, B. J.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Taylor & Francis 01.01.2008
Subjects
birefringence
diamond
inclusion
pressure
Raman spectroscopy
strain
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Summary:Raman spectroscopy is used to identify minerals in isolated sealed inclusion chambers in some New South Wales (Australia) diamonds and to determine the remnant internal pressure on each inclusion with values of each: 3.03, 3.31 and 3.54 - 3.62  GPa for coesite, 0.42, 1.36 and 2.3 GPa for diopsidic omphacite, and 0.8 GPa for grossular garnet, each determination for a different uncut stone. The diamond stress due to remnant pressure was found to be proportional to the maximum strain birefringence around each inclusion, as measured by the Berek compensator, with the constant (K = 1000 / 5.8, R 2  = 0.93) independent of the inclusion mineral, size, orientation and shape within the limits of error. Thus, simple birefringence measurements of diamond adjacent to inclusions can be used to estimate remnant pressures on inclusions. The calibration shows that one of the stressed diamonds has an anomalously low strain birefringence.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-2
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
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content type line 23
ISSN:0812-0099
1440-0952
1400-0952
DOI:10.1080/08120090701689332