| Crystal system | Hexagonal |
| Transparency | Transparent |
| Luster | Adamantine |
| Fracture | Conchoidal |
| Cleavage | Perfect basal |
| Specific Gravity | 4.65 |
| Hardness | 5.5 |
| Optical Character | Uniaxial+ Double Refractive |
| Refractive index | 2.21-2.30 |
| Birefringence | .09 |
| Dispersion | 0.013 |
| Fluorescence | |
| Pleochroism | |
| Chemical Formula | LiNbO3 |
| Comments | |
| Streak | White |
Linobate (LINE-oh-bate) is the commercial name for the manmade material lithium metaniobate, for which the formula is LiNbO3. This material is produced in colorless boules, as well as in a number of colors resulting from the dopant used in the manufacturing process, as follows
| Dopants | Resulting Color |
| Chromium | Green |
| Iron | Red |
| Cobalt | Blue or violet |
| Nickel or Manganese | Yellow |
Linobate has potential as a popular gem because of its very high
dispersion (almost three times that of diamond) and its range of possible
colors. However, its fairly low hardness of 5 1/2 is a distinct disadvantage. In
faceting linobate, boules must be oriented carefully for best results.
