Spectral and geometric aspects of mineral identification by means of hyperspectral fluorescence imaging

The light emission of mineral samples in the visible wavelength range under ultraviolet (UV) illumination is examined by means of hyperspectral imaging. The general physical phenomenon causing this effect is called luminescence. The short-lived kind of luminescence is called fluorescence. Hyperspectral images are images consisting of up to several hundred spectral channels instead of just the three colors in case of common color images. Recently, we presented the first object classification by means of hyperspectral fluorescence analysis of minerals. In this article, previous analyses conducted by us are extended by investigating an increased number of spectral channels and samples of more species. We will present spectral and spatial characteristics of the mineral fluorescence and describe how the identification can possibly be improved.