Hydroxyapatite (HA) is a ceramic material which is intersecting as a coating of Titanium protheses because of its biological compatibility. The characteristics of the HA films deposited by pulsed laser ablation are influenced by a large number of process parameters. After the deposition HA film show also an ageing effect related to changes of the film properties. The knowledge of the refractive index of HA film could help to identify the properties both during the film growth and, after the deposition, during the exposure to different environments. The HA films were deposited on Ti substrates and optically characterized in the 500-850 nm optical spectrum by spectroscopic ellipsometry and the resulting refractive indices are reported in the paper. Starting from the results of SEM and XRD measurements a suitable model was developed that allowed the solution of the ellipsometric equations in terms of n and k over the entire measured spectrum at 65 degrees and 75 degrees incidence angles.

Date Published: 8 November 1996
PDF: 6 pages
Proc. SPIE 2965, ALT '96 International Symposium on Laser Methods for Biomedical Applications, (8 November 1996); doi: 10.1117/12.257369

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 2965:
ALT '96 International Symposium on Laser Methods for Biomedical Applications
Alexander M. Prokhorov; Costas Fotakis; Vladimir Pustovoy, Editor(s)