Measurement of crystallographic orientation of quartz crystal using Raman spectroscopy: application to entrapped inclusions

Raman spectroscopy has been widely used in mineralogy and petrology for identifying mineral phases. Some recent applications of Raman spectroscopy involve measuring the residual pressure of mineral inclusions, such as quartz inclusions in garnet host, to recover the entrapment pressure condition during metamorphism. The crystallographic orientations of entrapped inclusions and host are important to know for the modelling of their elastic interaction. However, the analysis of tiny entrapped mineral inclusions using EBSD technique requires time consuming polishing. The crystallographic orientations can be measured using polarized Raman spectroscopy, as the intensities of Raman bands depend on the mutual orientation between the polarization direction of the laser and the crystallographic orientation of the crystal. In this study, the Raman polarizability tensor of quartz is first obtained and is used to fit arbitrary orientations of quartz grains. We have implemented two rotation methods: (1) sample rotation method, where the sample is rotated on a rotation stage, and (2) polarizer rotation method, where the polarization directions of the incident laser and the scattered Raman signal are parallel and can be rotated using a circular polarizer. The precision of the measured crystallographic orientation is systematically studied and is shown to be ca. 0.25 degrees using quartz wafers and quartz plates that are cut along known orientations. It is shown that the orientation of tiny mineral inclusions (ca. 2-5 mu m) can be precisely determined and yield consistent results with EBSD.

Automated summary

Raman spectroscopy is widely used in mineralogy and petrology for identifying mineral phases, including measuring residual pressure of mineral inclusions and understanding the crystallographic orientations between inclusions and hosts. The analysis of tiny mineral inclusions using EBSD technique is time consuming, but polarized Raman spectroscopy can provide precise measurement of crystallographic orientation. The orientation of tiny mineral inclusions can be accurately determined using the Raman polarizability tensor of quartz, with a precision of approximately 0.25 degrees.