title: Antireflection coating design for plastic optics.
abstract: The coating of plastics for optical applications is intended to improve the mechanical durability of soft polymers and to serve an antireflection function. Usually a classic four-layer antireflection system is added on top of a single-layer hard coating. With needle optimization, an alternative coating design has been developed. The design is characterized by thin high-refractive-index layers that are almost evenly distributed over the whole stack. Plasma ion-assisted deposition was used to deposit coatings upon poly(methyl methacrylate), polycarbonate, and cyclo-olefin copolymer. Uniform antireflection and high scratch resistance have been achieved.
authors.affiliation: Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering, Jena, Germany. ulrike.schulz@iof.fhg.de
authors.forename: Ulrike
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Schulz
authors.forename: Uwe B
authors.initials: UB
authors.lastname: Schallenberg
authors.forename: Norbert
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kaiser