trichroic
/trʌɪˈkrəʊɪk
/adjective Crystallography
(Of a crystal) appearing with different colours when viewed along the three crystallographic directions.The trichroic mirror is a thin rectangular wedge 3 by 5 inches in dimension and 0.125 inches thick....
- Very few stones are trichroic and this is what makes tanzanites very easy to identify.
- This new trichroic prism assembly is especially useful in a compact color projector employing reflective liquid-crystal light valves.
Derivatives
trichroism
- This colour variation is pleochroism (strictly trichroism in biaxial minerals).
- Most tanzanite is treated with heat to deepen the primary colors, and this subdues the trichroism slightly.
- The cutter must orient the rough carefully, taking iolite's trichroism of blue, gray and near colorless into account.
Origin
Late 19th century: from Greek trikhroos (from tri- 'three' + khrōs 'colour') + -ic.