Wire-grid (WG) polarizers with low reflectivity for visible light have been successfully developed. We theoretically consider the optical properties of simple sandwich structures of absorptive layer/transparent layer (gap layer)/high-reflective mirrors and found that it is possible to develop an antireflection (AR) coating owing to the interference along with the absorption in the absorptive layer. A wide variety of materials can be used for AR coatings by tuning the thicknesses of both the absorptive and the gap layers. This AR concept has been applied to reduce the reflectance of WG polarizers of Al. FeSi(2) as an absorptive layer has been deposited by the glancing angle deposition technique immediately on the top of Al wires covered with a thin SiO(2) layer as a gap layer. For the optimum combination of the thicknesses of FeSi(2) and SiO(2), the reflectance becomes lower than a few per cent, independent of the polarization, whereas the transmission polarization properties remain good. Because low-reflective (LR) WG polarizers are completely composed of inorganic materials, they are useful for applications requiring high-temperature durability such as liquid crystal projection displays.
Controlling the thermal radiation spectra of materials is one of the promising ways to advance energy system efficiency. It is well known that the thermal radiation spectrum can be controlled through the introduction of periodic surface microstructures. Herein, a method for the large-area fabrication of periodic microstructures based on multi-step wet etching is described. The method consists of three main steps, i.e., resist mask fabrication via photolithography, electrochemical wet etching, and side wall protection. Using this method, high-aspect micro-holes (0.82 aspect ratio) arrayed with hexagonal symmetry were fabricated on a stainless steel substrate. The conventional wet etching process method typically provides an aspect ratio of 0.3. The optical absorption peak attributed to the fabricated micro-hole array appeared at 0.8 μm, and the peak absorbance exceeded 0.8 for the micro-holes with a 0.82 aspect ratio. While argon plasma etching in a vacuum chamber was used in the present study for the formation of the protective layer, atmospheric plasma etching should be possible and will expand the applicability of this new method for the large-area fabrication of high-aspect materials.
Abstract. We investigated the optical characteristics and microstructures of wave plates composed of Ta 2 O 5 ð100 − xÞ þ TiO 2 ðxÞ and prepared by the so-called serial bideposition technique. While a single-layer film prepared by conventional oblique deposition technique has a tilted columnar structure (i.e., tilted optical axis), a serial bideposition film has a narrow, long columnar structure; this ensures that the optical axis of the film is along the quasinormal to the substrate, thus reducing haze. The influence of using additives with Ta 2 O 5 was investigated as well. It was found that additive TiO 2 improves optical transmittance at shorter wavelengths. For verifying the advantage of this type of wave plates, quarter wave plates with optimized TiO 2 content were fabricated and their optical performance and reliability were evaluated against those of organic-type wave plates. The results show that the inorganic wave plate prepared by serial bideposition is advantageous for applications where high-transmittance and high-temperature durability are essential.
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