The optical properties of coevaporated thin films

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Rochester. College of Engineering and Applied Science. Institute of Optics. This thesis was digitized by the Institute of Optics in 2014 and was determined to have lapsed into the public domain. If you are the author and have questions about the digitization of your work, please contact Kari Brick, Graduate Program Coordinator for the Institute of Optics, at kbrick@ur.rochester.edu. Other contact information for the Institute is available at http://www.optics.rochester.eduThe optical properties of thin film metal-dielectric mixtures formed by simultaneous deposition from separate sources in vacuum are investigated. Al-MgF₂ mixtures are characterized by an optical transmittance minimum in the ultraviolet region of the spectrum, which is attributed to a shift in the optical plasma resonance of Al. No such minimum is observed for the mixtures Al-ThF₄, Al-NdF₃, and Rh-MgF₂. The optical properties of thin films of Ag and Cr evaporated in vacuum and the optical properties of thin film mixtures of Ag and Cr formed by simultaneous deposition from separate sources in vacuum are studied. The optical constants of Cr and Ag-Cr mixtures are determined by the pseudo-Brewster angle method. The complex dielectric constant of a 15% Ag-75% Cr mixture and a 72% Ag-18% Cr mixture are approximately linear combinations of the complex dielectric constant of the component metals. The complex dielectric constant of a 47% Ag-53% Cr mixture does not follow this linear relationship. Film characteristics of Ag, Cr, and Ag-Cr mixtures are studied by transmission electron microscopy, x-ray diffraction And electron diffraction