Today’s coating processes provide the capability to produce anti-reflective (AR) coatings, bandpass filters, separation filters, high laser damage threshold coatings, mirror coatings, etc. with high precision and high yields. The production environment is based on batch-coating processes and component sizes that range from mm to meter. Generally, one function such as limited wavelength coverage...

Two sets of opaque water-based acrylic coatings were prepared with IR-reflective pigments and conventional pigments. The objective of this work was to determine the efficiency of IR-reflective pigments in limiting the heat buildup of opaque coating formulations. Experiments performed on PVC substrates revealed that IR-reflective pigments significantly decreased the temperature increase above ro...

The laser damage resistance of coatings in high-power laser systems depends significantly on the surface quality of the substrate. In our experiment, pits were precisely fabricated on the surface of fused silica substrate using a femtosecond laser processing bench. The HfO2/SiO2 high-reflective coatings at 1064 nm were deposited by conventional e-beam evaporation onto fuse...

This paper will describe efforts at developing broadband mirror coatings with high performance that will extend from infrared wavelengths down to the Far-Ultraviolet (FUV) spectral region. These mirror coatings would be realized by passivating the surface of freshly made aluminum coatings with XeF2 gas in order to form a thin AlF3 overcoat that will protect the aluminum from oxidation and, henc...

We consider the design problem of creating coatings that are either highly reflective or highly transparent. The goal is to create an optical element, consisting of planar dielectric layers, that reflects (or transmits) energy over a given range of wavelengths and angles of incidence. The approach that we take is to formulate the problem as a minimax optimization problem. We demonstrate that th...

Many optics in both the OMEGA and OMEGA EP lasers are coated with anti-reflective (AR) silane sol-gel to maximize their transmittance. Although these coatings are highly resistant to both airborne contaminants and laser damage, they are susceptible to mechanical damage by abrasion, and thus require extra care during the handling, installation and alignment of sol-gel optics. Previous “hardened”...

The thermo-optical properties of coated surface are important for spacecraft thermal control coatings which depend on the optical properties and structure of the coating material. These coatings control the temperature by their capability of outer energy absorption and its emission. The optical properties of pigment can be improved if the pigment contains a high fraction of voids in its structu...

Anti-reflective (AR) coatings provide numerous visual benefits to spectacle wearers. However, coating designers and manufacturers seem to have placed little or no emphasis on reflectance of wavelengths outside the visible spectrum. Ultraviolet (UV) radiation from sources behind the wearer can reflect from the back lens surface toward the wearer's eye. Various clear lens materials, with and with...