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A simple method for the determination of refractive indices of (rough) transparent solids

Nussbaumer, R. ; Halter, M. ; Tervoort, T. ; Caseri, W. ; Smith, P.

In: Journal of Materials Science, 2005, vol. 40, no. 3, p. 575-582

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    Titre
    • A simple method for the determination of refractive indices of (rough) transparent solids
    Auteur
    • Nussbaumer, R.. Department of Materials, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich, CH-8093, Zürich, Switzerland
    • Halter, M.. Department of Materials, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich, CH-8093, Zürich, Switzerland
    • Tervoort, T.. Department of Materials, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich, CH-8093, Zürich, Switzerland
    • Caseri, W.. Department of Materials, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich, CH-8093, Zürich, Switzerland
    • Smith, P.. Department of Materials, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich, CH-8093, Zürich, Switzerland
    Type de document
    • Postprint
    Langue
    • Anglais
    Publié dans
    • Journal of Materials Science, 2005, vol. 40, no. 3, p. 575-582. Kluwer Academic Publishers
    Autre version électronique
    Classification
    • Technologie, Sciences de l'ingénieur
    Identifiant OAI-PMH
    • oai:doc.rero.ch:319720
    Summary
    Simple methods for the determination of refractive indices of transparent polymers and inorganic and organic solids of irregular geometry or with scratched or corrugated surfaces are rare. A classical procedure is based on the invisibility of a body immersed in a liquid with the same refractive index as that of the body. In order to avoid the laborious procedure connected with the search for a liquid with matching refractive index and to find an approach which is independent of the observation by eye, we describe here a modified immersion method which allows the ready determination of the refractive index of solids. The present method is based on the interpolation of the maximum transmission (nTmax) of a solid immersed in liquids with different, typically non-matching, refractive indices. Illustrations with quartz glass, crown glass and poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) films showed that nTmax can be determined with a reproducibility of ± 0.003. By comparison with refractive indices determined by ellipsometry, it was concluded that the refractive index of a solid can be determined with the modified immersion method within an accuracy better than ± 0.01 when systematic errors resulting from the fit method are also taken into consideration