Refractive index reflective coatings

Another technique that is important for optical immunosensor development is internal or attenuated total reflection spectroscopy (Fig. 126). A waveguide (slide or fiber) having a high refractive index is coated with a layer of immobilized antibody. The incident light... 

Polymers have many important optical properties, such as the refractive index, reflection, scattering, absorption, clarity, gloss, haze, birefringence, stress-optic coefficient, the yellowing induced by photochemical degradation, and the specific refractive index increment in dilute solutions. Its optical properties need to be considered in evaluating the potential usefulness of a polymer in many applications such as (but not limited to) compact disk coatings, automotive... 

Antireflection coatings are used over the silicon surface which, without the coating, reflects ca 35% of incident sunlight. A typical coating consists of a single layer of a transparent dielectric material with a refractive index of ca 2, which is between the index of siUcon and ait or cover material. Materials such as titanium dioxide, tantalum pentoxide, Ta20, or siUcon nitride, Si N, ca 0.08-p.m thick are common. The coating and a physically textured... 

In comparison to infrared detectors, it is much more difficult for silicon-based optical detectors to achieve high QE over a wide bandpass. The main challenge is the tremendous variation of absorption depth shown in Fig. 8. In addition, the index of refraction varies significantly for A = 0.32-1.1 m, as shown in Fig. 10, making it difficult to optimize anti-reflection coatings for broad bandpass. 

What is a coating on a substrate It is a thin layer, of a stack of thin layers, made of materials with a refraction index different from that of the substrate. Part of the light is reflected at each interface between the layers or between air and the first layer or between the last one and the substrate. Reflected beams interfere so that for a given wavelength and a given thickness, reflected light can be either canceled out or maximized. It corresponds to maximum transmission or reflectivity of the layer respectively. These materials and their indexes are chosen in order to fit as close as possible the specifications for the final coated optics. 

Internal reflectance (attenuated total reflectance ATR ). The internal reflectance or, more usually, attenuated total reflectance (ATR), technique depends on the total reflectance of an IR beam at the internal face of an IR-transparent crystal of high IR refractive index, as shown in Figure 2.38. Medium 1 is a prism of such a material (for example, Si, Ge or KRS-5 [thallous bromide- iodide]), medium 2 is a thin coating of a metal (Au, Pt, Fe) which forms the working electrode and medium 3 is the electrolyte. The... 

Fig. 10. A SPR Detection realized in a BIAcore system. A fan of polarized light passes a prism and is focused at the interface to an aqueous phase under conditions of total reflection. An evanescent wave enters the solvent phase. If the prism is coated with a thin gold layer at the interface the free electrons in the metal absorb energy from the evanescent wave for a distinct angle, depending on the refractive index of the solvent near the interface. B The gold layer can be modified with, e.g., a carboxydextrane matrix, where catcher molecules can be immobilized by standard chemistry. If a ligand is applied with the aqueous phase it may interact with the catcher and accumulate in the matrix, causing a shift in the resonance angle. If no specific binding occurs the refractive index in proximity of the sensor is less affected...

A single layer of a micro PS film on a silicon substrate always reduces its reflectivity, because of its lower refractive index compared to bulk Si. Hence micro and meso PS films of a thickness around 100 nm have been proposed as anti-reflec-tive coatings for solar cells [Pr8, Gr9, Pol, Bi4, Scl8, StlO]. 

Attenuated total reflectance infrared (ATR-IR) is used to study films, coatings, threads, powders, interfaces, and solutions. (It also serves as the basis for much of the communication systems based on fiber optics.) ATR occurs when radiation enters from a more-dense material (i.e., a material with a higher refractive index) into a material that is less dense (i.e., with a lower refractive index). The fraction of the incident radiation reflected increases when the angle of incidence increases. The incident radiation is reflected at the interface when the angle of incidence is greater than the critical angle. The radiation penetrates a short depth into the interface before complete reflection occurs. This penetration is called the evanescent wave. Its intensity is reduced by the sample which absorbs. 

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