Polarization-dependent interference effects in grazing-angle Fourier transform infrared reflection-absorption spectroscopy to determine the thickness of water-ice films

Interference fringes appeared between 6000 and 4095 cm(-1) in the infrared spectra of thin water-ice films vapor deposited on an aluminum substrate and probed with grazing-angle Fourier transform infrared reflection-absorption spectroscopy. At grazing incidence the position of the fringe under perpendicularly polarized light (E(sigma)) is 180 degrees out of phase with the position of the fringe under parallel polarized light (E(pi)). This shift in fringe position with polarization offers a convenient way to estimate the thickness (+/-5%) of water-ice films between 0.5 and 1.4 microm.