Detection of Natural and Synthetic Emerald by Using Infrared Spectroscopy–ATR,Specular Reflection,Transflectance and Diffuse Reflectance Techniques

Emerald is a green(Cr-bearing)variety of beryl.It has also been one of the highest value and highly demanded gemstones in the world.For this reason,the methods for synthesis emerald(i.e.,hydrothermal,flux grown)have been constantly developed.In many cases,it is hard to distinguish the natural emerald from the synthetic one using the basic instruments.Therefore,with the advantage of non-destructive technique,the infrared spectroscopy has been efficiently applied for the task.In this study,to find the potential technique in FTIR spectroscopy for classifying between natural and synthetic emerald(hydrothermal and flux-grown),the observed spectra from the Attenuated Total Reflectance Radiation(ATR),Diffuse Reflectance(DRIFT),transflectance,and specular reflection techniques were compared.The result showed that the spectra obtained from the transflectance and the DRIFT techniques were similar with equal spectral qualities.Unlike the diffuse reflectance spectra,the transflectance spectra were not affected by the sample orientations.The spectral features associated with water molecule in the crystal structure were clearly observed in both the DRIFT and transflectance spectra.Although the spectral features associated with weak absorption bands of water were not observed in both the DRIFT and transflectance spectra,the position of strong absorption band at 3 800-3 500 cm^(-1) and 1 635 cm^(-1) could be detected in the ATR spectra.In addition,the lack of absorption of water between 4 000 and 3 400 cm^(-1) in flux-grown emerald samples is the clue to separate it from the natural and hydrothermal one.In the meantime,the absence of the strong absorption peaks between 2 300 and 1 400 cm^(-1) in hydrothermal emerald can differentiate it from the natural one.

Low voltage transflective blue-phase liquid crystal display with a non-uniform etching substrate

A transflective polymer-stabilized blue-phase liquid crystal display（BP-LCD） with a non-uniform etching substrate is proposed.In-plane switching（IPS） electrodes on the bottom substrate are put on the different gaps,and the bottom substrate between the electrodes is etched into different depths in transmissive（T） and reflective（R） regions.This structure can balance the optical phase retardation in the two regions and is helpful to achieve well-matched voltag-dependent transmittance and reflectance curves.This transflective display has high optical efficiency,a wide viewing angle,and low operating voltage（approximately 6 V）.

Microstructure and optical properties of nano Ag-ITO films

Nano Ag-ITO films with Ag volume fraction of 0.3%-1.0% were prepared by radio-frequency magnetron co-sputtering and analyzed by X-ray diffraction,scanning electron microscopy and ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy.Microstructure analysis shows that the films are composed of polycrystalline ITO matrix embedded with Ag nanoparticles with a mean size of 60-100 nm.Transmissivity spectra of Ag-ITO films indicate that the visible light transmissivity of the films decreases with increasing the Ag fraction.The transmissivity of the annealed films is higher than that of the as-deposited films.The volume 0.3% Ag-ITO films have the highest light reflectance.The annealed films exhibit lower light absorptance than as-deposited films.A surface plasmon resonance(SPR) peak of volume 0.3% Ag-ITO films is located around 510 nm.Compared with the annealed ITO film,the annealed volume 0.3% Ag-ITO film shows 10% higher reflectivity,while its transmittance is almost the same as that of the annealed ITO film,indicating its potential application in new-type transflective displays.