Stress measurements in a magnesium oxide single crystal under constant load using the R-line shifts in a ruby sphere on a Raman microscope

Using a Renishaw Raman Microscope and a constructed mechanical apparatus, a novel method for determining the stress in the contact region between a ruby indenter and an MgO crystal under static contact lead is described. The experiment was performed under normal laboratory conditions at the Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, UK. Manual focusing using the white light on the microscope was made onto the ruby sphere and by replacing the light with a HeNe laser, luminescence frequency in the R-lines of chromium ions at the relaxed (unstressed) positions could be determined. The MgO crystal was then quasi-statically loaded by the ruby sphere, while in the mechanical loading apparatus, and placed on the Renishaw. Manual focusing onto the ruby sphere was made through the MgO and the shift in R-lines from the relaxed positions determined. Literature values of stress coefficients in ruby were used to convert the shifts determined in the R-lines into hydrostatic and non-hydrostatic stresses at precise intervals across the contact region. It was revealed that large stresses hydrostatic occur in the contact region during quasi-static loading and these can be quantified for transparent solids (au)