Optical phonons in millerite (NiS) from single-crystal polarized Raman spectroscopy

Although several fundamental physico-chemical aspects of nickel sulfides have been studied in detail, particularly for millerite (nickel(II) monosulfide), the most common nickel sulfide mineral, no satisfactory investigation of optical vibrational modes has been reported previously. In this paper, we provide a definitive assignment of the optical phonons in millerite, investigated by polarized Raman spectroscopy on an oriented single crystal. The impact of the power of the incident laser beam on the spectra has also been investigated, revealing evidence for degradation in the quality of the spectra at sufficiently high laser power. Copyright (C) 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.