Section 1.6.4.8. Fringe counting

In a well made thin section, most crystals show a uniform polarization colour because of uniform orientation and thickness. Crystal edges, however, frequently taper off to near-zero thickness. In this case, the edge acts as a natural wedge of variable R and displays a series of fringes corresponding to the orders within the complete spectrum of interference colours, from first-order grey up to the main colour shown by the body of the crystal (Figs. 1.6.4.5b and c). Using a moderately high power objective, it is often easy to identify the individual bands and thus count up to the order concerned. The colour band red–sensitive tint–blue marking the first/second-order change is particularly easy to spot because of its generally dark colour. The method is also usable when the crystal grain has a sloping contact with a different crystal, and is especially easy when the latter has significantly lower birefringence. In this case, there are effectively two superimposed wedges (leading to some interesting addition or subtraction effects on R), but counting the fringes in ascending order will lead correctly to the identification of the polarization colour of the high-birefringence grain.