Abstract
THE etching figures produced on quartz crystal by hydrofluoric acid are different on surfaces cut in different orientations. The case in which the surface is normal to the optic axis is particularly interesting, since with such a surface, the etching pattern obtained consists of a great number of projecting triangular pyramids. This fact, first observed by Leydolt1, was afterwards studied by Molengraf2 and more recently by H. Arsandaux3, Pan Tcheng-Kao4 and A. de Gramont5. It is generally accepted that the three heights of the equilateral triangular base of each pyramid are respectively parallel to the three electric axes of the quartz, and that the three vertices of the base point towards the positive extremities of these axes when the crystal is under compression. A. de Gramont6 asserted that the parallelism between the orientation of the elementary pyramids and the bisectors of the angles formed by the hexagonal prism of quartz is not always true and that a deviation of a few degrees may sometimes be found. According to this author, the directions of the pyramids and not those of the bisectors represent the true directions of the electric axes of quartz.
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References
Leydolt, Sita. K. Akad. W. Math. Naturw., 59 (1855).
Molengraf, Z. Kryst. u. Min., 14, 173 (1888).
Arsandaux, H., Bull. Soc. Franc. Min., 51, 166 (1928).
Pan Tcheng-Kao, Rev. d'Optique, 10, 153 (1931).
de Gramont, A., Rev. d'Optique, 10, 213 (1931).
de Gramont, A., "Recherches sur le Quartz Piezoelectrique",22, 52 (1935).
Langevin, A., C.R. Acad. Sci., 209, 627 (1939).
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SHIN-PIAW*, C. Orientation of the Etching Figures of Quartz. Nature 154, 464 (1944). https://doi.org/10.1038/154464a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/154464a0
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