{"id":77542,"date":"2007-03-02T17:05:00","date_gmt":"2007-03-02T17:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pv-tech.org\/optical_coating_with_refractive_index_of_1-05\/"},"modified":"2007-03-02T17:05:00","modified_gmt":"2007-03-02T17:05:00","slug":"optical_coating_with_refractive_index_of_1-05","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pv-tech.org\/optical_coating_with_refractive_index_of_1-05\/","title":{"rendered":"Optical coating with refractive index of 1.05"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\nRensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) scientists have produced an
\noptical coating with almost the same refractive index as air (Nature
\nPhotonics, March 2007). This means that its light reflection properties
\nare practically zero. RPI claims a world record by decreasing the
\nreflectivity compared to conventional anti-reflection coatings by an
\norder of magnitude.\n<\/p>\n

\nAn optical coating made from the material that enables vastly
\nimproved control over the basic properties of light, the team reports.
\nPotential applications of anti-reflection coatings made from the
\nmaterial include much brighter LEDs, more efficient solar cells, and a
\nnew class of “smart” light sources that adjust to specific
\nenvironments. <\/p>\n

The new material has a refractive index of 1.05,
\nwhich is extremely close to the refractive index of air and the lowest
\never reported. Window glass, for comparison, has a refractive index of
\nabout 1.45.<\/p>\n

The refractive index governs the amount of light a
\nmaterial reflects, as well as other optical properties such as
\ndiffraction, refraction, and the speed of light inside the material.
\n“The refractive index is the most fundamental quantity in optics and
\nphotonics. It goes all the way back to Isaac Newton, who called it the
\n‘optical density,’” comments E. Fred Schubert, the Wellfleet Senior
\nConstellation Professor of the Future Chips Constellation at Rensselaer
\nand senior author of the paper.<\/p>\n

Many scientists have searched
\nfor materials that can eliminate unwanted reflections that degrade the
\nperformance of various optical components and devices. “We started
\nthinking, there is no viable material available in the refractive index
\nrange 1.0-1.4,” Schubert says. “If we had such a material, we could do
\nincredible new things in optics and photonics.”<\/p>\n

The material is
\nproduced using a technique called oblique angle deposition, which puts
\nsilica nanorods at a 45 degree angle on top of a thin film of aluminum
\nnitride, a semiconducting material used in advanced light-emitting
\ndiodes (LEDs). From the side, the films look much like the cross
\nsection of a piece of lawn turf with the blades slightly flattened.<\/p>\n

The
\ntechnique allows the researchers to strongly reduce or even eliminate
\nreflection at all wavelengths and incoming angles of light.
\nConventional anti-reflection coatings, although widely used, work only
\nat a single wavelength and when the light source is positioned directly
\nperpendicular to the material.<\/p>\n

The new coating could be used to
\nincrease the amount of light reaching the active region of a solar cell
\nby several percent, boosting performance. “Conventional coatings are
\nnot appropriate for a broad spectral source like the sun,” Schubert
\nsays. “The sun emits light in the ultraviolet, infrared, and visible
\nspectral range. To use all the energy provided by the sun, we don’t
\nwant any energy reflected by the solar cell surface.” <\/p>\n

In
\naddition, current LEDs are not yet bright enough to replace the
\nstandard light bulb. Eliminating reflection could improve the luminance
\nof LEDs, which could accelerate the replacement of conventional light
\nsources by solid-state sources. In the other direction, the team thinks
\nit possible to precisely control a material’s refractive index thereby
\nmaking extremely high-reflectance mirrors.<\/p>\n

Schubert and his
\ncoworkers have only made several samples of the new material to prove
\nit can be done, but the oblique angle evaporation technique is already
\nwidely used in industry, and the design can be applied to any type of
\nsubstrate — not just an expensive semiconductor such as aluminum
\nnitride.<\/p>\n

The research is funded primarily by the National
\nScience Foundation, with additional support from the U.S. Department of
\nEnergy, the U.S. Army Research Office, the New York State Office of
\nScience, Technology and Academic Research (NYSTAR), Sandia National
\nLaboratories, and the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology in
\nKorea. The substrates were provided by Crystal IS, a manufacturer of
\nsingle-crystal aluminum nitride substrates for the production of
\nhigh-power, high-temperature, and optoelectronic devices such as blue
\nand ultraviolet lasers.\n<\/p>\n

\nBy Dr. Mike Cooke\n<\/p>\n

\n \n<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) scientists have produced anoptical coating with almost the same refractive index as air (NaturePhotonics, March 2007). This means that its light reflection propertiesare practically zero. 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