Spectroscopic and Crystallographic Analysis of Gemstones

Dear Colleagues,

Gem, jade, and ceramic systems are functionally and geologically important crystalline and polycrystalline materials with profound cultural heritage significance, covering natural gem minerals, traditional jades, ancient jade relics, synthetic gemstones, and ancient ceramic artifacts. Their optical responses, coloration behaviors, and microtextural properties are governed by lattice configurations, structural defects, and trace elemental distributions. Modern spectroscopic and crystallographic methodologies have become powerful non-destructive analytical tools for advanced gemological study, enabling accurate gemstone authentication, treatment discrimination, and growth mechanism interpretation of synthetic gems, while supporting structural characterization, provenance tracing, and conservation studies of ancient jade and ceramic relics.

This Special Issue of Crystals aims to collect high-quality studies focusing on spectroscopic and crystallographic investigations of gem, jade, and ancient ceramic materials. We welcome original articles and review papers covering crystal chemistry, multimodal spectral characterization, luminescence characteristics, growth regulation and performance optimization of synthetic gemstones, and non-destructive quantitative testing techniques. We also encourage gemological and crystallographic structural investigations of ancient jade and ceramic artifacts utilizing spectroscopic and crystallographic techniques, aiming at geological provenance tracing and heritage conservation. Contemporary gemology is increasingly extending its research boundaries toward archeological jade and ceramic materials, making these studies suitable contributions to this Special Issue.

This Special Issue intends to build an interdisciplinary platform bridging gemology, crystallography, mineral physics, and cultural heritage science. We invite global researchers to contribute innovative works to advance fundamental and applied research on natural gem minerals, synthetic gem crystals, and ancient cultural crystalline relics.

Dr. Jun Shu
Prof. Dr. Zuowei Yin
Guest Editors

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