Cathodoluminescence hyperspectral imaging in geoscience

Cathodoluminescence (CL) is the electron-stimulated emission of low-energy (IR/visible/UV) photons from a solid material. Electron irradiation raises sample electrons to an excited state, which then emit a photon as they return to a lower energy state. The resultant luminescence can be analysed both spatially and spectrally, and until recently only one of these two approaches could be used for a given measurement. This chapter outlines the conventional spatial and spectral techniques, then describes the more recent approach of hyperspectral imaging, in which a single CL dataset simultaneously contains both spatial and spectral information