Optical Properties of

Gems
Electromagnetic Spectrum
Light is a form of energy which is radiated as a wave motion by electromagnetic waves.
The colour of light is determined by its wavelength.
The intensity or strength of light is proportional to the square of the amplitude of the
electromagnetic wave.
The relative positions of both light and radio waves in the
electromagnetic spectrum can be seen in the upper section of Figure,
while the lower section shows an expanded view of the visible part of
the spectrum.
Light waves in the visible spectrum are bounded at the long-
wavelength red end by infrared heat waves, and at the violet end by
invisible ultraviolet rays.
So far we have been discussing light in terms of Maxwell’s theory of
electromagnetic wave propagation, a theory which was eventually
verified in 1876 by Herz when heproduced and detected radio waves.
However, according to Einstein’s quantum theory of radiation, light is
not a continuous train of waves, but consists of a large number of
wavelets or photons.
When energy in the form of heat or an electrical charge is absorbed
by an atom, this enables some of its electrons to move from their
normal low energy orbits into higher energy orbits further away from
the nucleus.
When they return to their normal low energy orbits again they emit
their surplus energy in the form of photons of light.
Colour and selective absorption
White light is composed of an approximately equal mixture of all the
colours or wavelengths that make up the visible spectrum.
When we look at a coloured gemstone in white light, the colour we
see is the result of the absorption by the stone of various
wavelengths (or bands of wavelengths) in the original white light.
If, for example, the violet end of the spectrum is absorbed by the
gemstone, the colours in the remaining part of the white light will
combine together to produce the complementary colour yellow. If
the wavelengths from yellow through to violet are absorbed, the
stone will appear red
suppression of certain wavelengths or colours from the white light illuminating
an object is known as selective absorption. It can be visually analysed by
means of an instrument called a spectroscope.
Allochromatic and Idiochromatic gems
The selective absorption of light by most gemstones is caused either by
impurities present in the gemstone (such as chromium oxide in ruby, or iron
oxide in aquamarine), or by the chemicals in the stone’s composition (e.g.
copper in turquoise, or manganese in spessartite garnet).
Gemstones whose colour is caused by impurities are termed allochromatic (i.e.
‘other coloured’), while those which owe their colour to their own chemical
composition are called idiochromatic (‘self coloured’).
The majority of coloured gemstones are allochromatic, and in a pure state some
of these occur as colourless varieties.
Examples of allochromatic gem varieties containing no colouring impurity are
rock crystal, colourless sapphire and topaz, and the colourless goshenite variety
of beryl.
The transition elements
Selective absorption of light in both allochromatic and idiochromatic gemstones
is caused mainly by the presence of one or more of eight metallic elements,
which are called the transition elements.
In allochromatic gem minerals, these elements act as the colouring impurities,
while in the idiochromatic stones they are an integral part of the mineral’s
chemical formula.
Zircon and some colour varieties of topaz, quartz and fluorspar contain no
measurable amounts of any transition element.
Unlike other stones, their colours can be more easily changed by heat and
irradiation.
Element Example Gemstones
Titanium Blue sapphire (with iron), blue zoisite
Vanadium Grossular garnet (tsavorite), green vanadium beryl, synthetic corundum
(alexandrite simulant) some synthetic emeralds, blue/violet sapphire
Chromium Ruby, emerald , red spinel, pyrope garnet, grossular garnet, demantoid garnet,
uvarovite garnet, diopside, pink topaz, alexandrite
Manganese Rhodochrosite, rhodonite, spessartite garnet, rose quartz, morganite variety of
beryl, andalusite
Iron Sapphire, sinhalite, peridot, aquamarine, blue and green tourmaline, enstatite,
amethyst, almandine garnet

Cobalt Synthetic blue and green spinel, synthetic blue quartz (except for a rare blue spinel,
cobalt is not found in any natural transparent gemstone)

Nickel Chrysoprase, synthetic green and yellow sapphires

Copper Diopside, malachite, turquoise, synthetic green sapphire
Colour-Change gemstones
In some instances, the positions of absorption bands produced by transition
elements may cause a stone’s body colour to change when it is moved from one
type of lighting to another.
Because it is seen most dramatically in the rare alexandrite variety of
chrysoberyl it is generally known as the alexandrite effect.
In this particular gemstone there is a broad absorption band centred about 580
nm in the yellow area of the spectrum.
This causes the stone to appear red in the blue-deficient light of an incandescent
lamp (i.e. a tungsten filament lamp), and green in the more balanced spectrum
of daylight or under a daylight-type fluorescent lamp.
Because of alexandrite’s rarity and consequent high price, several
simulants have been marketed which attempt to copy this colour-
change effect.
One of these is a synthetic corundum doped with vanadium. The
colour change with this simulant is from an amethyst purple in tungsten
light to a pale blue in daylight, which makes it easily distinguishable
from the genuine article.
A green synthetic spinel simulant has also been produced which
approaches more closely to the true alexandrite colours.
In 1973, a true synthetic copy of chrysoberyl was introduced having the
correct colour-change of the best quality Siberian alexandrite.
Since then several synthetic alexandrites have appeared on the market.
Interference colours
Colour can also be produced in a gemstone by optical effects rather than by its chemical
composition.
One of these optical effects is caused by the interference between rays reflected from the
surface layers of a gemstone.
If a ray of white light (I) meets a very thin transparent layer, it will be reflected from
the top surface of this layer as well as from the lower surface.
Both reflected rays (R1, R2) will be parallel with each other, but because the one
that penetrated the layer has travelled further, it will be out of phase (i.e. out of
step) with the other one.
Depending on the thickness of the layer, at one particular wavelength or colour in
the reflected light the two rays will be exactly half a wavelength out of phase with
each other, and that colour will be cancelled out.
The remaining components in the reflected light then combine to produce the
complementary colour (as in selective absorption).
At another wavelength the two rays may be exactly in step, or in phase, and this
colour will be reinforced in the reflected light.
The part that this light interference effect plays in the production of colour in
gemstones such as opal, labradorite and moonstone.
Dispersion
White light passing through a material possessing dispersion has
its individual spectral wavelengths refracted, or bent, by different
amounts as they enter and leave the material at an angle other
than 90°.
The effect of this can be seen most clearly in a glass prism which
splits the white light into its spectral colours.
The violet end of the spectrum is refracted the most, and the red
end the least.
In a highly dispersive gemstone this results in the production of
flashes of coloured light (known as ‘fire’) when the gem is moved
around under a light source.
The degree of dispersion possessed by a gemstone is generally related to the
size of its refractive index and in gemmology is usually measured as the
difference in refractive index of a material at the B and G Fraunhofer
wavelengths of 686.7 nm and 430.8 nm.
Although the prismatic colours produced by dispersion are seen most strikingly
in colourless gems, they are also visible in the coloured stones demantoid,
garnet and sphene, although masked to some extent by the body colour of these
gems.
Colour centres
The colour in some gemstones is produced, or modified, by defects within the crystal lattice.
The defect, which can be produced by natural or man-made irradiation, is the result of either an
extra electron trapped at a site in the crystal lattice which it would not normally occupy, or an
electron missing from a site it would normally occupy (leaving a ‘hole’).
The extra electron gives rise to an electron colour centre, and the missing electron gives rise to a
‘hole’ colour centre.
Examples of gemstones whose tints are caused by colour centres include fluorite, quartz and
those diamonds whose colour has been artificially altered by irradiation.
It is also possible that many of the rare ‘fancy coloured’ diamonds owe their colour to colour
centres produced by natural irradiation in the Earth.
Natural zircon colours may be due to the lattice damage caused by irradiation from impurity
atoms of uranium and thorium trapped within the gem.
Lustre
The lustre of a gemstone is the optical effect created by the reflectivity of the
stone’s surface.
Lustre is directly related to the refractive index of a gem material, and although
the lustre of some gemstones is visible in the rough, its full potential is usually
revealed only when the stone is polished.
Because gemstones cover a wide range of refractive indices from 1.43 to 3.32,
they also exhibit different degrees of lustre. The descriptive terms in below
Table have come into use to describe the most characteristic of these lustres.
Name Description
Metallic The type of very high lustre associated with metals (e.g. gold, silver,
platinum) and seen in hematite and some metallic compounds (e.g.
pyrites, galena)
Adamantine The high surface polish achieved with diamond (zircon and
demantoid garnet are classified as ‘sub-adamantine’)
Vitreous A glass-like lustre typical of the majority of gemstones (corundum,
topaz, quartz)
Resinous The more subdued polish as seen in amber
Waxy The almost matt surface typical of turquoise and jadeite
Greasy The appearance of soapstone and nephrite
Pearly Luster seen in the pearl
Silky A fibrous lustre
Sheen
While lustre is all to do with the surface reflectivity of a stone, sheen is the optical effect created
by light rays reflected from beneath the surface of a gemstone.
As with lustre, there are several terms which are used to describe the various types of sheen
exhibited by gemstones.
1. Chatoyancy
This is the ‘cat’s-eye’, or band of light, effect caused by reflection from parallel groups of fibres,
crystals or channels within the stone.
In the case of pseudo-crocidolite, or tiger’s-eye as it is better known, these channels are the
fossilized remains of asbestos fibres which have been replaced by quartz.
The finer and more highly reflecting the fibres or channels, the brighter the chatoyant ‘line’.
Chatoyant stones are usually polished as cabochons (whose base is cut parallel
to the plane of the fibres) to best reveal this effect.
There are many chatoyant minerals (e.g. quartz, tourmaline), but the finest
quality cat’s-eye stone is the cymophane variety of chrysoberyl.
2. Asterism
This is the ‘star’ effect present in some rubies and sapphires (which are polished
in the cabochon style to show the effect to best advantage).
Like chatoyancy, the effect is due to fine parallel fibres or crystals, but in this
case there are three sets of them lying along the crystal’s lateral axes and
intersecting each other at 60°.
In black star sapphire, the fibres are hematite needles formed parallel to the
faces of the second order prism. In all other star corundums, the needles are of
rutile formed parallel to the faces of the first-order prism.
Some Thai star sapphires may contain both rutile and hematite needles
producing a 12-ray star.
Although the best asterism occurs in corundum as a six-pointed star, it can also
be seen occasionally in rose quartz where it is visible in transmitted rather than
reflected light (an effect known as diasterism; reflected light asterism is called
epiasterism).
In diopside and some garnets it appears as a four-pointed star.
In these stones there are only two sets of fibres, and these intersect each other
at 90° for garnet, and 73° for diopside.
Synthetic star rubies and sapphires have been produced, but with these stones
the star effect is sharper and more obviously on the surface of the gem than
with the natural stone.
The synthetic stones are also a better colour and more transparent.
3. Iridescence
This is the ‘play’ of rainbow-coloured light caused by extremely thin layers or regular structures
beneath the surface of a gemstone.
Like a thin film of oil on water, these layers interfere with the reflected light rays, reinforcing some
colours and cancelling others.
The effect is seen at its best in precious opal.
Because of their small size, and the symmetry of their arrangement, they colour reflected light by a
combination of interference and diffraction effects.
This latter effect is produced when white light is split up into its spectral colours by being passed
through a narrow aperture.
The colours produced by precious opal depend somewhat on the angle of viewing, but mainly on the
size of the spheres.
An opal containing spheres of 300nm diameter will reinforce light having a wavelength of up to twice
this dimension (i.e. from red to violet), while one with spheres of only 200nm will only reinforce
colours at the blue/violet end of the spectrum.
The orderly arrangement
of silica gel (cristobalite)
spheres in opal, as
discovered by the electro
microscope at the
magnification of 25 000X
4. Labradorescence
This is a particular form of iridescence which can be seen in the
labradorite variety of feldspar and in spectrolite, a beautiful Finnish
type of labradorite.
In both cases the colour effect is due to thin flakes of feldspar in the
gem’s surface layer which are the result of lamellar twinning.
Transparency
The colour of a gemstone also has an effect on its transparency. Deeply coloured stones will pass
less light than pale ones.
Another factor which will influence transparency is the presence of internal flaws or inclusions.
In addition, the thicker the stone, the greater the loss of light passing through it
Type of Description
Transparency
Transparent An object viewed through the stone can be seen clearly (e.g.
rock crystal, topaz)
Semi-transparent The image of an object viewed through the stone will be
blurred but still recognizable (e.g. amber, chalcedony)
Translucent The stone will transmit some light, but objects cannot be
seen through it (e.g. chrysoprase, jadeite)
Semi-translucent Some light can still penetrate the stone, but only through
the translucent edges (e.g. aventurine quartz)
Opaque The stone is sufficiently dense optically to prevent the
passage of any light (e.g. malachite, jasper)