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SUBSCRIPTIONS & PRICING
GENERAL INFORMATION
Field Guide to Optical Thin Films
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Description
This Guide covers the principles and applications of various useful graphical tools and methods for optical coating design, including the reflectance diagram, admittance diagram, and triangle diagram. These tools give insight into how optical coatings function and how they might be designed to meet given requirements. Shown are how unavailable indices can be approximated, the basis of ideal antireflection coating design, and the practical approximation of inhomogeneous index profiles.
Keywords: thin film, optical coating, thin films, optical coatings, antireflective, band pass, filter, QWOT
Table of Contents
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Front Matter
Open Access
- Fundamentals of Thin Film Optics
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Optical Basic Concepts
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Reflection
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Reflections
- Graphics for Visualization of Coating Behavior
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Reflectance as Vector Addition
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Triangle Diagram
- Behavior of Some Simple AR Coating Types
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Single-Layer Antireflection Coating
- Index of Refraction Simulations and Approximations
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Effective Index of Refraction
- The QWOT Stack, a Coating Building Block
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QWOT Stack Reflectors
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Absentee Layer
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NBP Filter Design
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Rabbit Ears
- Coatings at Non-Normal Angles of Incidence
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Polarization Effects
- Coatings with Absorption
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Various Metals on Triangle Diagrams
- Understanding Behavior and Estimating a Coating's Potential
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Estimating What Can Be Done Before Designing
- Insight Gained from Hypothetical Cases
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“Step-Down” Index of Refraction AR Coatings
- Possibility of Synthesizing Designs
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Fourier Concepts
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Fourier Examples
- Designing Various Types of Coatings
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Designing a New Coating
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Constraints
- Appendix
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Equation Summary
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Back Matter
Open Access
Excerpt
The principles of optical thin films are reviewed and applications shown of various useful graphical tools (or methods) for optical coating design: the reflectance diagram, admittance diagram, and triangle diagram. It is shown graphically how unavailable indices can be approximated by two available indices of higher and lower values than the one to be approximated. The basis of ideal antireflection coating design is shown empirically. The practical approximation of these inhomogeneous index profiles is demonstrated. Much of the discussions center on AR coatings, but most other coating types are seen in the perspective of the same graphics and underlying principles. Reflection control is the basis of essentially all dielectric optical coatings; and transmittance, optical density, etc., are byproducts of reflection (and absorption). The best insight is gained by the study of reflectance. It is also shown that AR coatings, high reflectors, and edge filters are all in the same family of designs. The graphical tools described are found to be useful as an aid to understanding and insight with respect to how optical coatings function and how they might be designed to meet given requirements.
Ronald R. Willey
©2006 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers
SPIE Digital Library
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