Group of Prof Adrian Finch
The structural state of minor and trace elements in minerals encode the conditions at the time that the mineral formed. Adrian Finch uses magnetic resonance to understand how trace elements substitute into minerals and ESR to understand how they cluster and interact with other defect types. This information provides key insights into the causes of luminescence in minerals, used in mineral exploration (particularly for rare elements such as Nb, Ta, Dy, Eu). It is also relevant to biominerals, trace element substitution in which is used to reconstruct past climates.
