Abstract
The physical vapour deposition process of serial bideposition is used to fabricate inorganic retardation plates of LaF
3, NdF
3, Sc
2O
3 and SmF
3. For a deposition angle of 70° the form-birefringent materials exhibit linear birefringence in the range 0.09–0.13 at wavelength 248 nm. The study shows that NdF
3 and Sc
2O
3 are unsuitable for use at 193 nm, due to excessive absorptive loss, and that LaF
3 is the preferred material.