Since the early work of Dmde and others on the reflection of light by opaque crystalline media, little progress has been made in the direct determination of the indices of refraction and absorption for such substances. Interest in the optical properties of the opaque minerals, however, has been greatly stimulated by the rapid development in the last few years of the methods of ore-microscopy first brought into prominence by Campbell in 1906. Full theoretical discussions have been given recently by Berek, Koenigsberger, and others, but the only quantitative measure feasible in routine microscopy at present is that of the reflectivity.
Computerized database of the optical properties of the opaque minerals [Compiled from "Tables for microscope identification of Ore minerals", by Uytenbogaardt and Burke]