ABSTRACT
This chapter lists the more common materials used for optical components in the infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum. The thermal properties are useful when designing experiments for operation at elevated temperatures. Internal reflectance methods are a common sampling method in infrared spectrophotometry. The chapter provides guidance in the selection of optics materials, and provides a conversion between wavelength and wavenumber units, for use in infrared spectrophotometry. It provides the infrared absorption spectra of several useful solvents, along with solvent design properties. In most cases, two spectra are provided for each solvent. The first in each set was measured using a double beam spectrophotometer using a neat sample against an air reference. The second spectrum in each set was measured with a Fourier transform instrument. The refractive indices are values measured with the sodium-d line.
