Laser light through minerals. Images are clickable for full size!

Well, as it turns out, my local rock shop is going out of business, and had a half-off sale. So I picked up a few bits of stuff - a chunk of calcite, several chunks of "Optical Selenite" as well as a little unpolished quarts spar and a scrap of jade.

Above:Left to right: Calcite, Selenite, Selenite..., Quartz, and Jade.

Above:So what scientist would stand their with a green laser pen in one hand and a peice of calcite in the other, and not do anything?

Above:Again, the Selenite lined up with the green laser shining through them. Notice double imaging of the ruler.

Above:And the Quartz.

Above:But wait! Something funny is going on! Interesting patterns happen to the laser beam as it passes through the Calcite and Selenite!

Above:Ahhah! If we shine through a different side of the crystal (Selenite in this and above case), we get a different pattern!

Above:Alright, what if we had two lasers at once of different colors?

Above:Nice.

Now my only question is "WHY?! What is going on?" It must have to do with the crystal structures inside.

Jesse, 6-12-2009. Contact jesseg (at symbol) nikola (dawt symbol) see oh em.