Raman spectroscopy

Today I had a chance to work on a Raman spectrometer. A hooked-up microscope allows to make measurements in situ. Surprisingly, thin sections with cover glass are also applicable!

So, let's take a suspicious zircon-looking grain. Its irregular shape and thus, unavailability to determine extinction cast doubts on the identification verdict. After ~50 seconds, the spectrometer gives a beautiful spectra. However, it is not enough to identify a mineral (in my case). The link provides us with 100% zircon and its Raman spectra which is almost identical. Ta-da.