Luminescence spectroscopy and imaging: analytical advances and perspectives in the Earth sciences and related disciplines

Abstract

This special issue is devoted to review articles on various themes and topics related to the application of luminescence spectroscopy and luminescence-based imaging in the Earth sciences and related disciplines. It was compiled on the occasion of the CORALS–2013, the third Conference on Raman and Luminescence Spectroscopy in the Earth sciences (July 3–6, 2013, Vienna, Austria). In contrast to the two previous CORALS conferences, held in Mainz, Germany (2009), and Madrid, Spain (2011), the CORALS–2013 was not focused preferentially on research in Lunar and planetary sciences, but it was open explicitly to applications of Raman and luminescence spectroscopy in all fields of the Earth sciences and related disciplines. In view of its broad profile as regards scientific content, the conference therefore seemed to be an excellent occasion to summarise the current state of the research. This, however, has already been done just recently for the Raman technique: A wide range of applications of Raman spectroscopic analyses has been presented comprehensively in volume 12 of the EMU Notes in Mineralogy (J. Dubessy, M.-C. Caumon, F. Rull, Eds.: Applications of Raman spectroscopy to Earth sciences and cultural heritage. European Mineralogical Union, 2012), and the use of Raman-based images in the Earth sciences has been summarised in an extended review chapter contained in volume 168 of Springer Series in Optical Sciences (A. Zoubir, Ed.: Raman imaging—Techniques and applications. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg, 2012). This special issue therefore focuses on luminescence techniques only. Other than most special issues related to conferences, this present issue dos not consist of a selection of research contributions that were presented during the conference. Rather, a number of review articles were invited well in advance, with the aim to compile a summary of the current status of luminescence seen from the Earth-sciences perspective, by the time the conference starts. Not all of our invitations were accepted, and not all of the submissions received could be published. For these reasons, several important fields (such as ion-beam luminescence, dosimetry based on afterglow-type luminescence, or the use of internal textures of minerals observed in luminescence images to assist isotope geochronology techniques) are not covered here; the summary hence must remain incomplete. We are nevertheless convinced that the eight review papers in this volume present a well-balanced selection of articles documenting the broad range of recent research activities and advances. To underline and illustrate the versatility of luminescence techniques in studying geological samples and synthetic minerals, we present a number of spectra and images in Fig. 1. We feel, however, obliged to add that at present, applications of luminescence spectroscopy and imaging applied in the Earth sciences are way more versatile than it can be visualised in a single paper or even a single figure. This assessment is supported by the range of topics presented in the present issue. Barbin contributed a summary of the application of the cathodoluminescence (CL) technique to the study of biogenic materials. As an example, the CL emission of trace-Mn in carbonate minerals is discussed, whose incorporation mechanism depends on the primary growth Editorial handling: R. Abart