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AssigneeScintrex Limited
InventorsHarold O. Seigel, John C. Robbins
Estimating the term…
We have discovered that certain photoluminescent minerals of zinc, fluorine, tungsten, molybdenum, mercury and other elements which may naturally occur at the surface of the earth can be selectively detected in the presence of most other photoluminescent minerals and organic materials which are likely to occur at the earth's surface. The basis of selective detection is the discovery that the lifetimes of photoluminescent emission of materials in the latter class are much shorter than the lifetimes of photoluminescent emission of materials in the former class. This invention utilizes this discovery in the detection of minerals of uranium, zinc, lead, fluorine, tungsten, molybdenum, mercury and other elements. In one embodiment of the invention, using a laser or other short duration source of optical excitation, measurements of the photoluminescent response of the earth are made at times sufficiently long for the photoluminescence of other common and unwanted sources to have substantially decayed, thereby selectively detecting and identifying certain minerals of potential economic interest. In another embodiment a source of light is modulated at a predetermined frequency and the photoluminescent response of the earth which is out-of-phase with the source is measured. In a third embodiment this source of light may be incident solar radiation after passage through a suitable modulator.
A method of selectively rejecting the fluorescent response of the abundant photoluminescent rocks and substances which may occur at the surface of the earth, while detecting the fluorescent response of a non-uranyl mineral of economic significance selected from the group consisting of minerals of zinc, fluorine, tungsten, molybdenum, mercury and other elements having lifetimes of photoluminescence between 1 and 50 microseconds through consideration of their differences in photoluminescent lifetimes;
A method of selectively rejecting the fluorescent response of the abundant photoluminescent rocks and substances which may occur at the surface of the earth, while detecting the fluorescent response of certain non-uranyl minerals of economic significance selected from the group consisting of minerals of zinc, fluorine, tungsten, molybdenum, mercury and other elements having lifetimes between 1 and 50 microseconds through consideration of their differences in photoluminescent lifetimes;
Apparatus for selectively rejecting the fluorescent response of the abundant photoluminescent rocks and substances which may occur at the surface of the earth, while detecting the fluorescent response of a non-uranyl mineral of economic significance selected from the group consisting of minerals of zinc, fluorine, tungsten, molybdenum, mercury and other elements having a lifetime of photoluminescence between 1 and 50 microseconds through consideration of their differences in photoluminescent lifetimes;
Apparatus for selectively rejecting the fluorescent response of the abundant photoluminescent rocks and substances which may occur at the surface of the earth, while detecting the fluorescent response of a non-uranyl mineral of economic significance selected from the group consisting of minerals of zinc, fluorine, tungsten, molybdenum, mercury and other elements having a lifetime of photoluminescence between 1 and 50 microseconds through consideration of their differences in photoluminescent lifetimes;
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.