Abstract
Crystalline sapphire is an excellent IR window material. It features high hardness (Knoop test, 1270 kg/mm2),1 high strength (modules of rupture 70,000 psi), a high melting temperature (2303 K),1 and typical transparency out to 5 µm. Except for a very weak OH− impurity absorption around 2.7 µm, the transmission properties are basically determined by intrinsic loss mechanisms. Sapphire is a uniaxial material with an ordinary ray (propagation along the optical or c axis) and an extraordinary ray (propgagation perpendicular to the optical axis). The IR properties of the ordinary ray are well known2-4; however, the IR properties of the extraordinary ray are not as well known. To understand fully the performance of sapphire in IR applications it must be fully characterized.
© 1989 Optical Society of America
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