of smithsonite. Journal of Raman Spectroscopy 39(1):pp. 108-114.

Raman spectroscopy at both 298 and 77K has been used to study a series of selected natural smithsonites from different origins. An intense sharp band at 1092 cm-1 is assigned to the CO32- symmetric stretching vibration. Impurities of hydrozincite are identified by a band around 1060 cm-1. An additional band at 1088 cm-1 is observed in the 298 K spectra but not in the 77K spectra is attributed to a CO32- hot band. Raman spectra of smithsonite show a single band in the 1405 to 1409 cm-1 range assigned to the ν3 (CO3)2- antisymmetric stretching mode. The observation of additional bands for the ν3g modes for some smithsonites is significant in that it shows distortion of the ZnO6 octahedron No ν2 bending modes are observed for smithsonite. A single band at 730 cm-1 is assigned to the ν4 in phase bending mode. Multiple bands be attributed to the structural distortion are observed for the carbonate ν4 in phase bending modes in the Raman spectrum of hydrozincite with bands at 733, 707 and 636 cm-1. An intense band at 304 cm-1 is attributed to the ZnO symmetric stretching vibration