Reproducibilities of Some Physical Properties of MgF2

Opticalquality MgF, specimens selected to represent varying levels of fabrication stresses and impurities were examined to determine their elastic moduli, thermal expansions, and thermal conductivities. These properties proved to be insensitive to the variations in impurities among the samples. The elastic moduli were also insensitive to the variations in residual strain. Any sensitivity to residual strain was masked, in the case of thermal conductivity measurements, by the fracture of highly strained specimens during sample manipulation and, in the case of thermal expansion measurements, by crushing the specimens to powder before measurement.