Fabrication and performance of polymer-nanocomposite anti-reflective thin films deposited by RIR-MAPLE

Journal Article · Tue Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 2014 · Applied Physics. A, Materials Science and Processing

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-014-8566-1· OSTI ID:1168951

Singaravelu, S.; Mayo, D. C.; Park, H-. K.; Schriver, K. E.; Klopf, John M. ^[1]; Kelley, Michael J. ^[2]; Haglund, R. F. ^[3]

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1. W&M, JLAB
2. W&M
3. VANDERBILT

Design of polymer anti-reflective (AR) optical coatings for plastic substrates is challenging because polymers exhibit a relatively narrow range of refractive indices. Here, we report synthesis of a four-layer AR stack using hybrid polymer: nanoparticle materials deposited by resonant infrared matrix-assisted pulsed laser evaporation. An Er: YAG laser ablated frozen solutions of a high-index composite containing TiO2 nanoparticles and poly(methylmethacrylate) (PMMA), alternating with a layer of PMMA. The optimized AR coatings, with thicknesses calculated using commercial software, yielded a coating for polycarbonate with transmission over 97 %, scattering <3 %, and a reflection coefficient below 0.5 % across the visible range, with a much smaller number of layers than would be predicted by a standard thin film calculation. The TiO2 nanoparticles contribute more to the enhanced refractive index of the high-index layers than can be accounted for by an effective medium model of the nanocomposite.

• Research Organization: Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (TJNAF), Newport News, VA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC)
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-06OR23177
• OSTI ID: 1168951
• Report Number(s): JLAB-ACC-14-1929; DOE/OR/23177-3287
• Journal Information: Applied Physics. A, Materials Science and Processing, Vol. 117, Issue 3; ISSN 0947-8396
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English