Abstract:
In this paper, the gemmological characteristics, spectroscopic characteristics and colour genesis of a kind of pink synthetic opal were investigated applying ultra-depth microscope, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), microscopic laser Raman spectroscopy (Raman), ultraviolet-visible absorption spectroscopy (UV-Vis), laser induced breakdown spectroscopy(LIBS), and X-ray fluorescence energy spectroscopy (EDXRF). The pink synthetic opal samples are transparent, show vitreous luster and have no play-of-colour phenomenon. The basic gemmological characteristics were tested with the refractive index of 1.41-1.42 and the density of 2.16-2.20 g/cm
3. The spherical and ellipsoidal micro-nano scale solid inclusions with different shades of red were observed under microscopic inspection. The synthetic pink opal samples showed both opal-A and opal-CT characteristics and were closer to opal-A opal by FTIR and Raman. Besides, the FTIR transmission spectra showed a series of peaks at 7 224, 4 523, 3 674, 2 662 cm
-1 and 2 266 cm
-1, consistent with those of the Russian synthetic opal. The content of SiO
2 of the samples is in the range of 97.581%-98.352%; in addition, 0.287%-0.497% of Na
2O, 0.112%-0.326% of MgO, 0.895%-1.507% of Al
2O
3, 0.011%-0.026% of K
2O, 0.003%-0.015% of CaO, and 0.079%-0.244% of Cu
2O were tested. The colour is due to the fine dispersion of mineral particles such as copper oxides (mainly Cu
2O) and the characteristic absorption peak near 570 nm is shown in the UV-Vis spectrum.