Dictionary:
sap·phire (săf'īr')  |
[Middle English saphir, from Old French safir, from Latin sapphīrus, from Greek sappheiros, of Semitic origin; akin to Hebrew sappîr, a precious stone.]
| Sci-Tech Encyclopedia: Sapphire |
The name given to all gem varieties of the mineral corundum, except those that have medium to dark tones of red that characterize ruby. Although the name sapphire is most commonly associated with the blue variety, there are many other colors of gem corundum to which sapphire is applied correctly; these include yellow, brown, green, pink, orange, purple, colorless, and black. Sapphire has a hardness of 9, a specific gravity near 4.00, and refractive indices of 1.76–1.77. Asterism, the star effect, is the result of reflections from tiny, lustrous, needlelike inclusions of the mineral rutile, plus a domed form of cutting. See also Corundum; Gem; Ruby; Rutile.
| Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: sapphire |
For more information on sapphire, visit Britannica.com.
| Columbia Encyclopedia: sapphire |
| Occultism & Parapsychology Encyclopedia: Sapphire |
Many legends of occult properties surround this precious stone, whose name derives from the Sanskrit sanipriya, i.e., dear to the planet Saturn. Next to the diamond, it is the hardest mineral; its true color is blue, but it may also be red, yellow, violet, green, or brown. It was also known in ancient times as lapis lazuli. According to folklore, the vision seen by Moses and the Law given to him were inscribed on sapphire. The sapphire was one of the twelve stones on the Jewish high priest's breastplate, located on the second row in the middle. It attained an eschatological significance as a foundation stone for the New Jerusalem (Isaiah 54:11 and Rev. 21:19).
When Roman Catholics select a new pope, a gold ring set with a sapphire is traditionally placed on his ring finger, symbolizing marriage to the church. Buddhists ascribed sacred magical power to the sapphire and believed that it reconciled mankind to God.
It was said to be a good amulet against fear, to promote the flow of good spirits, to prevent ague and gout, and to prevent the eyes being affected by smallpox. The sixteenth-century writer Camillo Leonardo claimed: "The sapphire heals sores, and is found to discharge a carbuncle with a single touch." The occult writer Francis Barrett stated in his book The Magus (1801): "A Sapphire, or a stone that is of a deep blue colour, if it be rubbed on a tumour wherein the plague discovers itself, (before the party is too far gone) and if, by and by it be removed from the sick, the absent jewel attracts all the poison, or contagion therefrom."
| Word Tutor: sapphire |
Kissing your hand may make you feel very very good but a diamond and sapphire bracelet lasts forever.
— Anita Loos (1893-1981), American Hollywood screenwriter and novelist.
| Dream Symbol: Sapphire |
A precious stone of penetrating cobalt blue, the sapphire is associated with protection (e.g., by the archangel Michael).
| Wikipedia: Sapphire |
| Sapphire | |
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| General | |
|---|---|
| Category | Mineral Variety |
| Chemical formula | aluminium oxide, Al2O3 |
| Identification | |
| Color | Every color except red (which is ruby) or pinkish-orange (padparadscha) |
| Crystal habit | massive and granular |
| Crystal system | Trigonal (Hexagonal Scalenohedral) Symbol (-3 2/m) Space Group: R-3c |
| Cleavage | None |
| Fracture | Conchoidal, splintery |
| Mohs Scale hardness | 9.0 |
| Luster | Vitreous |
| Streak | White |
| Specific gravity | 3.95–4.03 |
| Optical properties | Abbe number 72.2 |
| Refractive index | nω=1.768 - 1.772 nε=1.760 - 1.763, Birefringence 0.008 |
| Pleochroism | Strong |
| Melting point | 2030–2050 °C |
| Fusibility | infusible |
| Solubility | Insoluble |
| Other characteristics | CTE 5e−6 to 6.6e−6/K |
Sapphire (Greek: sappheiros) refers to gem varieties of the mineral corundum, an aluminium oxide (α-Al2O3), when it is a color other than red, in which case the gem would instead be a ruby. Trace amounts of other elements such as iron, titanium, or chromium can give corundum blue, yellow, pink, purple, orange, or greenish color. Pink-orange corundum are also sapphires, but are instead called padparadscha.
Because it is a gemstone, sapphire is commonly worn as jewelry. Sapphire can be found naturally, or manufactured in large crystal boules. Because of its remarkable hardness, sapphire is used in many applications, including infrared optical components, watch crystals, high-durability windows, and wafers for the deposition of semiconductors.
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Sapphire is one of the two gem varieties of corundum, the other being the red ruby. Although blue is the most well known hue, sapphire is any color of corundum except red. Sapphire may also be colorless, and it also occurs in the non-spectral shades gray and black. Pinkish-orange sapphire is known as padparadscha.
The cost of natural sapphire varies depending on their color, clarity, size, cut, and overall quality as well as geographic origin. Significant sapphire deposits are found in Eastern Australia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Madagascar, East Africa and in the United States at various locations (Gem Mountain) and in the Missouri River near Helena, Montana. [1] Sapphire and rubies are often found together in the same area, but one gem is usually more abundant.[2]
Color in gemstones breaks down into three components: hue, saturation, and tone. Hue is most commonly understood as the "color" of the gemstone. Saturation refers to the vividness or brightness or "colorfulness" of the hue, and tone is the lightness to darkness of the hue. [3] Blue sapphire exists in various mixtures of its primary and secondary hues, various tonal levels (shades) and at various levels of saturation (brightness): the primary hue must, of course, be blue.
Blue sapphires are evaluated based upon the purity of their primary hue. Purple, violet and green are the normal secondary hues found in blue sapphires. [4] Violet and purple can contribute to the overall beauty of the color, while green is considered a distinct negative. [4] Blue sapphires with no more than 15% violet or purple are generally said to be of fine quality. [4] Blue sapphires with any amount of green as a secondary hue are not considered to be fine quality.[4] Gray is the normal saturation modifier or mask found in blue sapphires.[4] Gray reduces the saturation or brightness of the hue and therefore has a distinctly negative effect.
The color of fine blue sapphires can be described as a vivid medium dark violet to purplish blue where the primary blue hue is at least 85% and the secondary hue no more than 15% without the least admixture of a green secondary hue or a gray mask. [3]
The 422.99 carats (84.60 g) Logan sapphire in the National Museum of Natural History, Washington D.C. is one of the largest faceted gem-quality blue sapphires in the world.
Red rubies are corundum which contain chromium impurities that absorb yellow-green light and result in deeper ruby red color with increasing content.[5] Purple sapphires contain trace amounts of vanadium and come in a variety of shades. Corundum that contains ~0.01% of titanium is colorless. If trace amounts of iron are present, a very pale yellow to green color may be seen. If both titanium and iron impurities are present together, however, the result is a magnificent deep-blue color.
Unlike localized ("interatomic") absorption of light which causes color for chromium and vanadium impurities, blue color in sapphires comes from intervalence charge transfer, which is the transfer of an electron from one transition-metal ion to another via the conduction or valence band. The iron can take the form Fe2+ or Fe3+, while titanium generally takes the form Ti4+. If Fe2+ and Ti4+ ions are substituted for Al3+, localized areas of charge imbalance are created. An electron transfer from Fe2+ and Ti4+ can cause a change in the valence state of both. Because of the valence change there is a specific change in energy for the electron, and electromagnetic energy is absorbed. The wavelength of the energy absorbed corresponds to yellow light. When this light is subtracted from incident white light, the complementary color blue results. Sometimes when atomic spacing is different in different directions there is resulting blue-green dichroism.
Intervalence charge transfer is a process that produces a strong colored appearance at a low percentage of impurity. While at least 1% chromium must be present in corundum before the deep red ruby color is seen, sapphire blue is apparent with the presence of only 0.01% of titanium and iron.
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Purple sapphires are lower in price than blue ones. Yellow and green sapphires are also commonly found. Pink sapphires deepen in color as the quantity of chromium increases. The deeper the pink color the higher their monetary value as long as the color is going towards the red of rubies.
Sapphires also occur in shades of orange and brown, and colorless sapphires are sometimes used as diamond substitutes in jewelry. Salmon-colored padparadscha (see below) sapphires often fetch higher prices than many of even the finest blue sapphires. Recently, sapphires of this color have appeared on the market as a result of a new treatment method called "lattice diffusion".[citation needed]
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Padparadscha is a pinkish-orange to orangy-pink colored corundum, with a low to medium saturation and light tone, originally being mined in Sri Lanka, but also found in deposits in Vietnam and Africa. Padparadscha sapphires are very rare, and highly valued for their subtle blend of soft pink and orange hues. The name derives from the Sinhalese word for lotus blossom. Along with rubies they are the only corundums to be given their own name instead of being called a particular colored sapphire.
The rarest of all padparadschas is the totally natural variety, with no beryllium or other treatment, and no heating.
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A rare variety of sapphire, known as color change sapphire, exhibits different colors in different light. Color change sapphires are blue in outdoor light and purple under incandescent indoor light. Color changes may also be pink in daylight to greenish under fluorescent light. Some stones shift color well and others only partially, in that some stones go from blue to bluish purple. While color change sapphires come from a variety of locations, the gem gravels of Tanzania is the main source.
Certain synthetic color-change sapphires are sold as “lab” or “synthetic” alexandrite, which is accurately called an alexandrite simulant (also called alexandrium) since the latter is actually a type of chrysoberyl---an entirely different substance whose pleochroism is different and much more pronounced than color-change corundum (sapphire).
A star sapphire is a type of sapphire that exhibits a star-like phenomenon known as asterism. Star sapphires contain intersecting needle-like inclusions (often the mineral rutile, a mineral composed primarily of titanium dioxide[6]) that cause the appearance of a six-rayed 'star'-shaped pattern when viewed with a single overhead light source.
The value of a star sapphire depends not only on the carat weight of the stone but also the body color, visibility and intensity of the asterism.
The Star of India is thought to be the largest star sapphire in the world and is currently on display at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. The 182 carat (36.4 g) Star of Bombay, housed in the National Museum of Natural History, Washington D.C., is a good example of a blue star sapphire.
Sapphires may be treated by several methods to enhance and improve their clarity and color. [7] It is common practice to heat natural sapphires to improve or enhance color. This is done by heating the sapphires to temperatures between 500 and 1800 °C for several hours, or by heating in a nitrogen-deficient atmosphere oven for seven days or more. Low Tube heating is where the stone is placed in a ceramic pot over charcoal, in which a man blows air through a bamboo tube to the charcoal creating more heat. The stone becomes a more blue in color but loses some of the silk. When high heat temperatures are used, the stone loses all of the silk and becomes clear under magnification. Evidence of sapphire and other gemstones being subjected to heating goes back to, at least, Roman times. [8] Un-heated stones are quite rare and will often be sold accompanied by a certificate from an independent gemological laboratory attesting to "no evidence of heat treatment".
Diffusion treatments are somewhat more controversial as they are used to add elements to the sapphire for the purpose of improving colors. Typically beryllium (Be) is diffused into a sapphire with very high heat, just below the melting point of the sapphire. Initially (c. 2000) orange sapphires were created with this process, although now the process has been advanced and many colors of sapphire are often treated with beryllium. It is unethical to sell beryllium-treated sapphires without disclosure, and the price should be much lower than a natural gem or one that has been enhanced by heat alone.
Treating stones with surface diffusion is generally frowned upon; as stones chip or are repolished/refaceted the 'padparadscha' colored layer can be removed. (There are some diffusion treated stones in which the color goes much deeper than the surface, however.) The problem lies in the fact that treated padparadschas are at times very difficult to detect, and they are the reason that getting a certificate from a reputable gemological lab (e.g. Gubelin, SSEF, AGTA, etc.) is recommended before investing in a padparadscha.
According to Federal Trade Commission guidelines, in the United States, disclosure is required of any mode of enhancement that has a significant effect on the gem's value.[9]
Sapphires are mined from alluvial deposits or from primary underground workings.
The finest specimens were mined in Kashmir, in the northwestern section of India, from about 1880 to 1920. They have also been mined in Myanmar, Madagascar, Sri Lanka, Australia, Thailand, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tanzania, Kenya and China. All three famous sapphires, the Logan sapphire, the Star of India and the Star of Bombay originate from Sri Lankan mines. Madagascar leads the world in sapphire production (as of 2007) specifically in and around the city of Ilakaka.[citation needed] Prior to Ilakaka, Australia was the largest producer of sapphires (as of 1987).[citation needed] In the United States sapphires have been produced from deposits near Helena, Montana. Gem grade sapphires and rubies are also found in and around Franklin, North Carolina.
In 1991 a new sapphire occurrence, similar in quality to that of Kashmir, was discovered in Andranondambo, southern Madagascar. That area was industrially exploited since 1993 and has been almost abandoned few years later because of difficulties of exploiting sapphires in their bedrock.[citation needed]
In 1902, French chemist Auguste Verneuil developed a process for growing synthetic sapphire crystals.[10] In the Verneuil process, fine alumina powder is added to an oxyhydrogen flame which is directed downward against a mantle.[11] Alumina in the flame is slowly deposited, creating a teardrop shaped 'boule' of sapphire. Chemical dopants can be added to create artificial versions of ruby and all the other sapphire gems, plus colors never seen in nature. Artificial sapphire is identical to natural sapphire, except it can be made without the flaws found in natural stones. However the Verneuil process had the disadvantage that the crystals created with it had high internal strains. Many methods of manufacturing sapphire today are variations of the Czochralski process, invented in 1916.[12] A tiny sapphire seed crystal is dipped into a crucible of molten alumina and slowly withdrawn upward at a rate of 1 to 100 mm per hour. The alumina crystallizes on the end, creating long carrot shaped boules of large size, up to 400 mm in diameter and weighing almost 500 kg.[13]
In 2003, the world's production of synthetic sapphire was 250 tons.(1.25 x 109carats).[13] The availability of cheap synthetic sapphire unlocked many industrial uses for this unique material:
The first laser was made with a rod of synthetic ruby. Titanium-sapphire lasers are popular due to the relatively rare ability to tune the laser wavelength in the red-to near infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum. They can also be easily mode-locked. In these lasers, a synthetically produced sapphire crystal with chromium or titanium impurities is irradiated with intense light from a special lamp, or another laser, to create stimulated emission.
One application of synthetic sapphire is sapphire glass. Sapphire is not only highly transparent to wavelengths of light between 170 nm to 5.3 μm (the human eye can discern wavelengths from around 400 nm to 700 nm), but it is also five times stronger than glass and ranks a 9 on the Mohs Scale, although it is also more brittle. Sapphire glass is made from pure sapphire boules by slicing off and polishing thin wafers. Sapphire glass windows are used in high pressure chambers for spectroscopy, crystals in high quality watches, and windows in grocery store barcode scanners since the material's exceptional hardness makes it very resistant to scratching.[13] Owners of such watches should still be careful to avoid exposure to diamond jewelry, and should avoid striking their watches against artificial stone and simulated stone surfaces that often contain silicon carbide and other materials that are harder than sapphire and thus capable of causing scratches.
One type of xenon arc lamp, known as Cermax (original brand name — generically known as a ceramic body xenon lamp), uses sapphire output windows that are doped with various other elements to tune their emission. In some cases, the UV emitted from the lamp during operation causes a blue glow from the window after the lamp is turned off. It is approximately the same color as Cherenkov radiation but is caused by simple phosphorescence.
Wafers of single-crystal sapphire are also used in the semiconductor industry as a substrate for the growth of devices based on gallium nitride (GaN), with a transparent conductive coating (TCC) formed from gallium nitride on a sapphire substrate. In order to account for the lattice mismatch between the GaN and the sapphire substrate, a nucleation layer is formed on the sapphire substrate. A mask, for example silicon dioxide (SiO2), is formed on top of the nucleation layer with a plurality of openings. GaN is then grown through the openings in the mask to form a lateral epitaxial overgrowth layer upon which defect-free GaN is then grown. The lateral epitaxial overgrowth compensates for the lattice mismatch between the sapphire substrate and the GaN. The use of a sapphire substrate eliminates the need for a cover glass and also significantly reduces the cost of the TCC, since such sapphire substrates are about one-seventh the cost of germanium substrates. Gallium nitride on sapphire is commonly used in blue light-emitting diodes (LEDs).
The transparent conductive coating (TCC) may then be disposed on a gallium arsenide (GaAs) solar cell. In order to compensate for the lattice mismatches between the GaAs and the GaN, an indium gallium phosphate (InGaP) may be disposed between the GaAs solar cell and the GaN TCC to compensate for the lattice mismatch between the GaN and the GaAs. In order to further compensate for the lattice mismatch between the GaN and InGaP, the interface may be formed as a super lattice or as a graded layer. Alternatively, the interface between the GaN and the InGaP may be formed by the offset method or by wafer fusion. The TCC, in accordance with the present invention, is able to compensate for the lattice mismatches at the interfaces of the TCC while eliminating the need for a cover glass and a relatively expensive germanium substrate.
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| Translations: Sapphire |
Dansk (Danish)
n. - safir
adj. - safirblå
Nederlands (Dutch)
saffier, saffieren
Français (French)
n. - saphir, bleu saphir
adj. - en saphir
Deutsch (German)
n. - Saphir
adj. - Saphir-
Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - (ορυκτολ.) σάπφειρος, ζαφείρι
adj. - ζαφειρένιος
Italiano (Italian)
zaffiro, di zaffiro
Português (Portuguese)
n. - safira (f), espécie de beija-flor (m) (Zool.)
adj. - da cor da safira
Русский (Russian)
сапфир, темно-синий цвет сапфира, синий, сапфировый
Español (Spanish)
n. - zafiro, zafirino
adj. - de zafiro, de color zafiro
Svenska (Swedish)
n. - safir, safirblått
adj. - safirblå
中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
蓝宝石, 青玉, 宝石蓝, 天蓝色, 深蓝色的, 天蓝色的
中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 藍寶石, 青玉, 寶石藍, 天藍色
adj. - 深藍色的, 天藍色的
한국어 (Korean)
n. - 사파이어, 청옥, 매력 없는 흑인
adj. - 사파이어 빛의, 청옥색의
日本語 (Japanese)
n. - サファイア, サファイア色
adj. - サファイア色の, サファイアの
العربيه (Arabic)
(الاسم) حجر ثمين أزرق أللون (صفه) لون أزرق ضارب ألى ألخضرة
עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ספיר
adj. - כחול עז
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 | star sapphire |
| Asterism |
| oriental amethyst (mineralogy) |
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