Note: Interference order charts can vary depending on the microscope’s light source. A uniform-spectrum light source preserves true birefringence colors, showing the interference orders as they are theoretically defined. Tungsten-halogen lights, common in many geology microscopes, shift the spectrum toward yellow, subtly altering the appearance of lower and higher order colors. Brightness levels also affect how vivid or muted the colors appear. For accurate optical mineralogy, it’s important to match your microscope’s light source to the correct reference chart.
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