Developing materials for depositing the coatings of optical items of lasers for the visible and near-IR regions

This paper discusses the problem of predicting and creating materials based on the oxides of metals for interference coatings of laser optics. It is shown that the energy parameter of metal-oxygen bonds plays a role in forming the strength characteristics of oxide layers. The fact of partial thermal dissociation of oxide materials during vacuum evaporation is established by the methods of diffuse reflection spectroscopy and x-ray phase analysis. The use of rare-earth oxides as additives promotes the compositional stabilization of the materials. The refractive index of the layers lies within the limits 2.0-2.3, while the scattering coefficient is 0.05-0.17%. It is shown that the optical parameters of the coatings can be further improved by optimizing the conditions under which they are deposited and the composition of the materials. (C) 2006 Optical Society of America.