Category: Cross Polarization Crystal Photography

Alum Crystals pt 1 of 2.

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Cross polarization photos of Alum crystals.

Alum (potassium aluminum sulfate) is a cooking additive.  I prepared my crystal samples by dissolving Alum power in water until the solution reached saturation, then placing a few drops on a microscope slide and allowing to air dry.  Sometimes I use a coverslip to force the crystals to form in thinner layers.  Alum seems to begin crystal formation pretty quickly, within an hour you can see crystals on the surface of the solution.  You can even watch the crystals grow in real time while observing under the microscope.

Images in this post were taken using a DinoScope USB microscope.

Vitamin C Pt 1 of 3

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Micro-photograpy images of vitamin C crystals taken using a cross polarization technique.  All of the images were taken with either a Dinoscope USB microscope or a Fein-Optics digital scope borrowed from work at magnifications ranging from 20X to 400X.

The colors in these images are NOT computer generated, they are the result of the way in which polarized light interacts with the atomic structure of crystalized Ascorbic acid (i.e. Vitamin C).  Changing the orientation of the polarization of the light passing through the crystals results in different colors reaching the camera.  For the images in this post the polarizers were oriented to produce predominantly red images.  The patterns that you see are the result of variations in the arrangement of atoms in different parts of the crystals.