Abstract

Intuitive interpretation of the effect of inhomogeneous layers in optical coatings is often difficult. In this work, we use admittance diagrams to interpret some properties of accidental and premeditated optical inhomogeneities. The effect of accidental homogeneous and inhomogeneous transition layers on the spectral properties of a single film is presented. We also give an original explanation for the suppression of harmonics and sidelobes in the spectra of rugate filters.

© 2001 Optical Society of America