Optical polymer thin films with isotropic and anisotropic nano-corrugated surface topologies

Mohammed Ibn-Elhaj and Martin Schadt ()
Additional contact information
Mohammed Ibn-Elhaj: ROLIC Research Ltd
Martin Schadt: ROLIC Research Ltd

Nature, 2001, vol. 410, issue 6830, 796-799

Abstract: Abstract Light reflection from computer monitors, car dashboards and any other optical surface can impair the legibility of displays, degrade transmission of optical components and in some cases may even pose safety hazards. Antireflective coatings are therefore widely used, but existing antireflection technologies often perform sub-optimally or are expensive to implement. Here we present an alternative approach to antireflection coatings, based on an extension of our photo-aligning and photo-patterning technology for liquid-crystal displays1,2 (LCDs) and liquid-crystal polymer films with smooth surfaces3,4 to optical polymer films with controlled surface topologies. Nano- and micro-corrugated topologies are shown to result from optically induced monomer phase-separation on the polymer surfaces. The properties of the resulting films make them suitable high-performance and low-cost antireflection coatings for optical components of virtually any size, shape and material. Moreover, the approach can be used to form a wide range of other functional polymer thin films with isotropic as well as anisotropic topologies. For example, films can be produced whose optical birefringence exceeds that of the birefringence of the polymer material itself. These new films can also be used as diffractive thin films, diffusers, and directional reflectors which preserve light polarization, or as substrates for aligning liquid crystals to produce bright, low-power-consumption LCDs with integrated optical functions and memory.

Date: 2001
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/35071039 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:410:y:2001:i:6830:d:10.1038_35071039

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/35071039

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().