Ultrahigh vacuum measurement of the optical properties of copper

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Rochester. College of Engineering and Applied Science. Institute of Optics, 1963.An ultra-high vacuum system has been designed and built in which metallic films may be evaporated and their optical properties measured in situ. A pressure of 3 x 10⁻⁹ torr has been obtained. This system has been used in the formation and study of copper films. Of the samples made, aging histories of three are reported. One sample evaporated and held at 10⁻⁵ torr displayed a relatively constant value for the dielectric constant. Two samples formed and held at 10⁻⁸ torr showed a sharp decrease in this parameter during the first five hours after evaporation. This change is attributed to the buildup of monolayers of gas contamination. This kind of contamination would have taken place before any observations could be made on a sample at 10⁻⁵ torr. The results of this work justify the application of ultra-high vacuum techniques to the measurement of the optical properties of clean samples