Scientific principles of the prediction and creation of film-forming materials for interference optics

This paper discusses the general principles and scientific bases for creating materials for depositing the thin-film coatings of interference optics. They are based on the interconnection of the optical and operational properties of the coatings, on one hand, and the structural-energetic parameters of the metal-nonmetal bonds of the materials, on the other. The regularities of the variation of the optical properties of compounds have been established for anion and cation replacement by a heavier analog in binary compounds of various types of metals. It is shown that the composition of the coatings obtained by evaporating materials is mainly determined by the ratio of the metal-nonmetal binding energies in each of the components. When strong chemical compounds are formed, stabilization of a definite state of the metals is observed between them. Criteria are proposed for the capability of the compounds for donor-acceptor interaction. (C) 2006 Optical Society of America.