The colorimetric properties of the AuAgCu ternary system have been examined with a nulling spectro-ellipsometer. The use of an ellipsometer to derive the colour co-ordinates of a sample is a novel technique. The ellipsometer has the advantages for use as a physical colorimeter in that its calibration is gonio-metric and it does not require a particularly stable light source or secondary reflectance standard. The spectro-ellipsometer was operated in the PCSA configuration at 75 Deg. angle of incidence. The compensator fast axis was fixed at -π/4 azimuth and nulling was achieved by adjustment of the polariser/analyser azimuths. Data was taken over the wavelength range of 250nm to 850nm at intervals of 10nm and an optical bandwidth of 10nm. The AuAgCu alloys were fabricated with an equilibrium temperature of 600 C as 10 x 20 x 1 mm plaquettes mounted in thermo-setting resin. The compositional range of the alloys covered the entire AuAgCu system in 10 weight percentage increments (36 alloys in all). The plaquettes were hand polished and finished with a 1/4μ lapp.
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