Refractive indices of zinc sulfide and cryolite in multilayer stacks

The refractive indices at 633 nm of ZnS and cryolite in multilayer stacks have been determined in the vacuum environment by measurements of the transmittance extrema during deposition. Estimates of the inhomogeneity of index as a function of layer thickness are given. The method gives average index measurements: (1) every lambda/4 for the first ZnS layer, (2) for an initial thickness as small as lambda/16, and thereafter every lambda/4 for the second layer, cryolite. The results are used to monitor the layer thicknesses of ZnS-cryolite multilayer stacks by theoretically predicting the transmittances of the system at the termination of each layer.