Effect of hot-pressing temperature on the optical transmission of zinc sulfide

Two phase mixtures of ZnS consisting of the hexagonal and the cubic phase have been prepared by hot-pressing at different temperatures. The optical properties of these two phase composites were measured in the far infrared. The difference in the index of refraction between the cubic and the hexagonal phases produced scattering that was accentuated at large grain size. The results are correlated with the fourth power dependence of the scattering cross section on the grain size.