Theoretical analysis of optical characteristics of the alpha spodumene in ultraviolet region

It is presented an analysis of some important optical characteristics of the natural spodumene crystal, based on the first-principles calculations of its electronic structure and complex dielectric tensor. The optical absorption spectrum is interpreted in terms of electronic band structure for incident radiation energy up to 35 eV. The orientation of the three orthogonal principal optical axes is determined relative to the crystallographic axes, and expressed as function of the incident radiation wavelength. Reflectivity and electron energy loss are calculated along the three principal axes. All calculated optical properties are found to be highly anisotropic. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.