Pyroxene spectroscopy

This chapter reviews spectroscopic studies of pyroxenes conducted primarily within the past ten years. It includes studies aimed at understanding the origin of the spectroscopic interaction itself, and studies of broader problems which include spectroscopic approaches. It is neither comprehensive nor encyclopedic, but is intended to provide a feel for the applicability of spectroscopic methods in the pursuit of mineralogical and petrological problems. In many respects, this chapter is looking at a small subset of a series of larger problems. For instance, the study of the iron-titanium interaction in sapphire is every bit as important towards the interpretation of lunar titaniferous pyroxenes as is the study of the lunar samples themselves.