Optical Surface Thickness of Pure Water

Abstract
An apparatus and method is described, based on the optical theory of Drude, capable of measuring surface film thickness of less than a monomolecular order of magnitude. The retardation in phase sustained by plane polarized light at a transparent reflecting surface is compensated and measured by tension on a thin glass microscope cover slip. The method is applied to pure water and the results indicate that the least possible thickness of the water surface is 2–3A. The ellipticity from water at the polarizing angle is estimated by two observers to be 33×10—5 and 42×10—5.

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