When a ray of unpolarized (ordinary) light falls on a dichroic uniaxial crystal, any given wavelength will be absorbed differently according to which plane it is vibrating in, except along the optic axis for which there is no distinction between an ordinary ray and an extraordinary ray. Thus, the dichroic crystal will appear to have one colour in the direction of the optic axis and a different one at other angles. A biaxial crystal, one having two optic axes, will exhibit trichroism, in which three colours, sometimes called face colours, may be observed. As an example, in the crystal cordierite, when white light travels through the crystal parallel to one of the three crystal axes, either violet, blue, or yellow light will be absorbed. If a cube is cut having the crystal axis for edges, the three residual colours will be mixtures of blue plus yellow, violet plus yellow, and violet plus blue.

A pleochroic halo is a spherical shell of colour produced around a radioactive impurity included in a mineral. Such a shell—observed as a ring, or halo, if the specimen is cleaved along a plane passing through the sphere—is believed to represent a region in which the crystal structure has been modified by the absorption of the energy of alpha particles (alpha particle) emitted by the radioactive elements. Because most of the energy of an alpha particle is absorbed at the end of its path length in a mineral, these colour centres are produced most intensely around the inclusion. Pleochroic halos are commonly found in rock-forming minerals—for example, biotites, fluorites, and amphiboles. The most common inclusions are the minerals zircon, xenotime, apatite, and monazite.

The distance of the rings from the central radioactive inclusion depends upon the range of the alpha particles. Consequently each ring may be identified with alpha emission by a specific element.