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The use of Raman spectroscopy for characterization and for structural studies of minerals is at present in its infancy. It is hoped that this chapter will show that the technique is a valuable one for such purposes and may, under certain conditions, provide data which can be as immediately useful as those provided by infrared methods, and that indeed Raman spectroscopy has certain real advantages over infrared for mineral studies. Nevertheless Raman and infrared are complementary techniques and, wherever possible, both should be used in mineral studies. The main reason for the slow development of Raman spectroscopy has been the difficulty of obtaining suitable intense monochromatic sources, but the situation has now been completely transformed by the introduction of lasers. The development of these concentrated, high-intensity monochromatic sources, particularly those of the gas or mixed gas laser type, has made possible the non-destructive study of powdered minerals in very small quantities (c. 2 mg or less) or of single crystals of sizes of the order of a few millimetres. The mineralogical literature is almost devoid of any reference to the technique; most of the reports on Raman spectra of minerals (or of Raman spectra in general) are to be found in the journals concerned with chemistry, physics or molecular spectroscopy. The publication Chemical Abstracts covers all of these and reference should be made under the headings, in the abstract indices, to “Spectra, Raman” and of course to the name of the specific mineral itself. Literature searching through back issues is

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