Optical techniques in the far infrared region (10 to 200 cm/sup -1/) are to explore the basic superconducting behavior of the high temperature superconductors V/sub 3/Si, Nb/sub 3/Ge, Nb, and granular NbN. Such spectroscopy yields accurate gap values, information about the temperature dependence of superconducting properties, values of the electron-phonon spectral function, and insight into grain-to-grain coupling in inhomogeneous geometries. These results are used to calculate basic superconducting parameters such as the coupling constant and the transition temperature with the aim of explaining the underlying physics of superconductors.