Petrographic Microscope
A petrographic microscope is a type of optical microscope used to identify Rock (geology), rocks and minerals in thin sections. The microscope is used in optical mineralogy and petrography, a branch of petrology which focuses on detailed descriptions of rocks. The method includes aspects of polarized light microscopy (PLM). __TOC__ Description Depending on the grade of observation required, petrographic microscopes are derived from conventional Bright-field microscopy, brightfield microscopes of similar basic capabilities by: * Adding a Nicol prism polarizer filter to the light path beneath the sample slide * Replacing the normal stage with a circular rotating stage (typically graduated with vernier scales for reading orientations to better than 1 degree of arc) * Adding a second rotatable and removable Nicol prism filter, called the analyzer, to the light path between objective and eyepiece * Adding a phase telescope, also known as a Bertrand lens, which allows the viewer ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Nicol Prism
A Nicol prism is a type of polarizer. It is an optical device made from calcite crystal used to convert ordinary light into plane polarized light. It is made in such a way that it eliminates one of the rays by total internal reflection, i.e. the ordinary ray is eliminated and only the extraordinary ray is transmitted through the prism. It was the first type of polarizing prism, invented in 1828 by William Nicol (1770–1851) of Edinburgh. Mechanism The Nicol prism consists of a rhombohedral crystal of Iceland spar (a variety of calcite) that has been cut at an angle of 68° with respect to the crystal axis, cut again diagonally, and then rejoined, using a layer of transparent Canada balsam as a glue. Unpolarized light ray enters through the side face of the crystal, and is split into two orthogonally polarized, differently directed rays by the birefringence property of calcite. The ''ordinary'' ray, or ''o''-ray, experiences a refractive index of ''n''o = 1.658 in ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Harry Rosenbusch
(Karl) Heinrich/Harry (Ferdinand) Rosenbusch (24 June 1836 – 20 January 1914) was a German petrographer. Harry Rosenbusch was born in Einbeck. He taught at Heidelberg University (1877–1908), where he founded the ''Mineralogisches-geologisches Institut''. He died, aged 77, in Heidelberg. He received the 1903 Wollaston Medal from the Geological Society of London The Geological Society of London, known commonly as the Geological Society, is a learned society based in the United Kingdom. It is the oldest national geological society in the world and the largest in Europe, with more than 12,000 Fellows. Fe .... Literary works * ''Mikroskopische Physiographie der petrographisch wichtigen Mineralien'', 1873 * ''Mikroskopische Physiographie der Mineralien und Gesteine'', 4 Vols., 1873-1877 * ''Elemente der Gesteinslehre'', 1898 * ''Mikroskopische Physiographie'' (4th ed., Stuttgart, 1909, 2 vols.) References External links * — He is mention a number of times in the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Giovanni Battista Amici
Giovanni Battista Amici (; 25 March 1786 – 10 April 1863) was an Italian astronomer, microscopist, and botanist. Amici was born in Modena, in present-day Italy. After studying at Bologna, he became professor of mathematics at Modena, and in 1831 was appointed inspector-general of studies in the Duchy of Modena. A few years later he was chosen director of the observatory at Florence, where he also lectured at the museum of natural history. Amici died in Florence in 1863. His name is best known for the improvements he effected in the mirrors of reflecting telescopes and especially in the construction of the microscope. He was also a diligent and skillful observer, and busied himself not only with astronomical subjects, such as the double stars, the satellites of Jupiter and the measurement of the polar and equatorial diameters of the sun, but also with biological studies of the circulation of the sap in plants, the fructification of plants, infusoria etc. He was the first t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Polarizer
A polarizer or polariser is an optical filter that lets light waves of a specific polarization (waves), polarization pass through while attenuation, blocking light waves of other polarizations. It can filter a beam of light of undefined or mixed polarization into a beam of well-defined polarization, known as polarized light. Polarizers are used in many optics, optical techniques and optical instrument, instruments. Polarizers find applications in photography and liquid crystal display, LCD technology. In photography, a polarizing filter (photography), polarizing filter can be used to filter out reflections. The common types of polarizers are linear polarizers and circular polarizers. Polarizers can also be made for other types of electromagnetic waves besides visible light, such as radio waves, microwaves, and X-rays. Linear polarizers ''Linear polarizers'' can be divided into two general categories: absorptive polarizers, where the unwanted polarization states are absorption ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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William Nicol (geologist)
William Nicol FRSE FCS (1768?2 September 1851) was a Scottish geologist and physicist who invented the Nicol prism, the first device for obtaining plane-polarized light, in 1828. Early life Nicol was born in Humbie (East Lothian), the son of Walter Nicol and Marion Fowler. According to the parish register, he was born 18 April and baptised on 22 April 1770. Some sources give his date of birth as 1768; other ones (including his gravestone) give 1766. (Note that the gravestone date may be incorrect, as the engraving was done at least 50 years after his death.) Lecturer He started out as aide to his uncle, Henry Moyes, an itinerant lecturer in Natural Philosophy whose blindness necessitated assistance for his chemistry and optics demonstrations.''Joseph Priestley to Joseph Banks'', 6 Feb 1783, NHM, Dawson Turner MS 3, fol. 17p122 Albert Edward Musson, Eric Robinson ''Science and technology in the Industrial Revolution,'' Manchester University Press, 1969, Nicol, having himsel ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Étienne-Louis Malus
Étienne-Louis Malus (; ; 23 July 1775 – 23 February 1812) was a French officer, engineer, physicist, and mathematician. Malus was born in Paris, France and studied at the military engineering school at Mezires where he was taught by Gaspard Monge. He participated in Napoleon's expedition into Egypt (1798 to 1801). He was also a member of the mathematics section of the Institut d'Égypte. Malus became a member of the Académie des Sciences in 1810. In 1810 the Royal Society of London awarded him the Rumford Medal. His mathematical work was almost entirely concerned with the study of light. He studied geometric systems called ''ray systems'', closely connected to Julius Plücker's '' line geometry''. He conducted experiments to verify Christiaan Huygens's theories of light and rewrote the theory in analytical form. His discovery of the polarization of light by reflection was published in 1809 and his theory of double refraction of light in crystals, in 1810. Malus at ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Diffraction
Diffraction is the deviation of waves from straight-line propagation without any change in their energy due to an obstacle or through an aperture. The diffracting object or aperture effectively becomes a secondary source of the Wave propagation, propagating wave. Diffraction is the same physical effect as Wave interference, interference, but interference is typically applied to superposition of a few waves and the term diffraction is used when many waves are superposed. Italian scientist Francesco Maria Grimaldi coined the word ''diffraction'' and was the first to record accurate observations of the phenomenon in 1660 in science, 1660. In classical physics, the diffraction phenomenon is described by the Huygens–Fresnel principle that treats each point in a propagating wavefront as a collection of individual spherical wavelets. The characteristic pattern is most pronounced when a wave from a Coherence (physics), coherent source (such as a laser) encounters a slit/aperture tha ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Birefringence
Birefringence, also called double refraction, is the optical property of a material having a refractive index that depends on the polarization and propagation direction of light. These optically anisotropic materials are described as birefringent or birefractive. The birefringence is often quantified as the maximum difference between refractive indices exhibited by the material. Crystals with non-cubic crystal structures are often birefringent, as are plastics under mechanical stress. Birefringence is responsible for the phenomenon of double refraction whereby a ray of light, when incident upon a birefringent material, is split by polarization into two rays taking slightly different paths. This effect was first described by Danish scientist Rasmus Bartholin in 1669, who observed it in Iceland spar (calcite) crystals which have one of the strongest birefringences. In the 19th century Augustin-Jean Fresnel described the phenomenon in terms of polarization, understanding ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Conoscopy
Conoscopy is an optical technique to make observations of a transparent specimen in a cone of converging rays of light. The various directions of light propagation are observable simultaneously. A conoscope is an apparatus to carry out ''conoscopic observations'' and measurements, often realized by a microscope with a Bertrand lens for observation of the ''direction's image''. The earliest reference to the use of ''conoscopy'' (i.e., observation in convergent light with a polarization microscope with a Bertrand lens) for evaluation of the optical properties of liquid crystalline phases (i.e., orientation of the optical axes) is in 1911 when it was used by Charles-Victor Mauguin to investigate the alignment of nematic and chiral-nematic phases.Mauguin, C.: Sur les cristaux liquides de LehmannBull. Soc. Fr. Miner. 34, 71–117 (1911)/ref> A beam of convergent (or divergent) light is known to be a linear superposition of many plane waves over a cone of solid angles. The raytracin ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Isotropy
In physics and geometry, isotropy () is uniformity in all orientations. Precise definitions depend on the subject area. Exceptions, or inequalities, are frequently indicated by the prefix ' or ', hence ''anisotropy''. ''Anisotropy'' is also used to describe situations where properties vary systematically, dependent on direction. Isotropic radiation has the same intensity regardless of the direction of measurement, and an isotropic field exerts the same action regardless of how the test particle is oriented. Mathematics Within mathematics, ''isotropy'' has a few different meanings: ; Isotropic manifolds: A manifold is isotropic if the geometry on the manifold is the same regardless of direction. A similar concept is homogeneity. ; Isotropic quadratic form: A quadratic form ''q'' is said to be isotropic if there is a non-zero vector ''v'' such that ; such a ''v'' is an isotropic vector or null vector. In complex geometry, a line through the origin in the direction of an is ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Wave Plate
A waveplate or retarder is an optical device that alters the polarization state of a light wave travelling through it. Two common types of waveplates are the ''half-wave plate'', which rotates the polarization direction of linearly polarized light, and the ''quarter-wave plate'', which converts between different elliptical polarizations (such as the special case of converting from linearly polarized light to circularly polarized light and vice versa.) Waveplates are constructed out of a birefringent material (such as quartz or mica, or even plastic), for which the index of refraction is different for light that is linearly polarized along one or the other of two certain perpendicular crystal axes. The behavior of a waveplate (that is, whether it is a half-wave plate, a quarter-wave plate, etc.) depends on the thickness of the crystal, the wavelength of light, and the variation of the index of refraction. By appropriate choice of the relationship between these parameters, it is ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |