Abstract

Numerical design and manufacturing of DUV dielectric coatings are strongly influenced by the material properties in this wavelength region. Due to the limited number of DUV transparent materials and due to the lack of a really high index material only a few material combinations are applicable for interference multilayer coatings. Because of their high band gap energy and small absorption, lanthanide trifluorides belong to the only materials to be used in VUV multilayer optics in conjunction with low refractive index materials like MgF₂, AlF₃, Na₃AlF₆ (cryolith) or SiO₂. LaF₃, NdF₃ and GdF₃ have been chosen for a detailed study in comparison to former investigations on these materials^1-3. Thin single films as well as different multilayer coatings (dielectric mirrors, antireflection coatings) have been deposited by a low loss evaporation technology⁴ developed at IOF.

© 1998 Optical Society of America