摘要 |
An infrared optical element, and methods for its manufacture. The optical element is made by cold working an ingot of a soft crystalline ionic solid such as silver halide or a thallium halide that preferably includes at most one part per million of metallic impurities and at most ten parts per million total impurities. Preferably, the Knoop hardness of the ionic solid is at most about 20, and the elongation ratio of the ionic solid is at least 10% at a temperature of no more than 200° C. The optical element maybe a bulk element or a surface element. The optical element may be a refractive element, a diffractive element or a hybrid element. One such element is a flat sensor for attenuated total reflection spectroscopy. In one embodiment of the sensor, a thin layer of silver halide or thallium halide is formed by diffusion or deposition on the surface of a substrate having a lower index of refraction than the layer. The sensor also includes a mechanism for coupling infrared radiation in and out of the layer. The scope of the invention includes a cell for attenuated total reflection spectroscopy based on the sensor, and a spectrometer for attenuated total reflection spectroscopy based on the cell.
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