Cathodoluminescence of iron oxides and oxyhydroxides

Abstract

Iron oxides and oxyhydroxides show promise as superconductor materials and as repositories of paleoenvironmental information. However, there are no microscale nondestructive analytical techniques to characterize their combined mineralogy, chemical composition, and crystal properties. We address this by developing cathodoluminescence mounted on a scanning electron microscope (SEM-CL) as an in situ nondestructive method for crystallographic and petrographic study of iron oxides and oxyhydroxides. We show that goethite, hematite, and magnetite display This is the peer-reviewed, final accepted version for American Mineralogist, published by the Mineralogical Society of America.The published version is subject to change. Cite as Authors (Year) Title. American Mineralogist, in press.