Determination of Carbon Nanotube Thin Film Thickness and Optical Parameters by a New Modified Prism Waveguide Coupler System
Since their discovery by Iijima in 1991 carbon nanotubes have been used in many novel applications of nanotechnology. Carbon nanotubes thin films in particular can be used to create, among others, anti-reflection coatings or stretch sensors. However, for these applications to be successful the thick...
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| Format: | Others |
| Language: | English English |
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Florida State University
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| Online Access: | http://purl.flvc.org/fsu/fd/FSU_migr_etd-7285 |
| Summary: | Since their discovery by Iijima in 1991 carbon nanotubes have been used in many novel applications of nanotechnology. Carbon nanotubes thin films in particular can be used to create, among others, anti-reflection coatings or stretch sensors. However, for these applications to be successful the thickness of the film as well as its refractive index must be known. In this thesis a new system capable to measure the thickness and index of such films is proposed. Based on thin film optics, during 1969 Tien, Ulirch, and Martin first proposed a prism coupler method that could be used determine the characteristics of a transparent film by guiding light inside it. Based on their work Metricon corporation developed the first commercialized prism coupler instrument. Later, Liu developed a method called IRIA (Internal Reflected Intensity Analysis) that can be used to determine the characteristics of highly absorbing samples. Here based on the IRIA method a new modified prism coupler system is proposed. After the validity of the system's output is verified by comparing the acquired results with the results acquired from other methods, the new system is used to measure the thickness and the refractive index of single walled carbon nanotube thin films deposited on Polydimethylsiloxane substrates. === A Thesis submitted to the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of
Science. === Summer Semester, 2013. === June 28, 2013. === carbon nanotubes, refractive index, thickness, thin films === Includes bibliographical references. === Tao Liu, Professor Directing Thesis; Petru Andrei, Professor Co-Directing Thesis; Hui Li, Committee Member; Ming Yu, Committee Member. |
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