Smart VO2 thin film for protection of sensitive infrared detectors from strong laser radiation

This paper presents a method to make vanadium dioxide (VO2) crystallites on silicon substrates by reactive ion beam sputtering. The thickness of the thin film is about 100 nm. The transmittance of the semiconducting phase VO2 is about 54% and it is reduced to as low as 3% in metal phase at the wavelength of 10.6 mum. And the ratio of the transmittance of these two states is measured being 18:1. When a destructive light intensity is above 0.85 W/cm(2) at 10.6 mum, most of the light could be reflected by the thin film, thus the sensitive infrared detector is protected from strong laser radiation. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.