Abstract:
The physical vapor deposition process of serial bideposition is
adapted to the fabrication of uniaxial optical coatings. During the coating
process the vapor impinges at an angle of incidence of about 70 on to the
substrate, and a stepwise axial rotation with 90 increments causes a columnar
structure to grow normal to the substrate. Symmetry considerations
that follow from the choice of 90 for the stepwise increment ensure that
the film is achiral and has negligible in-plane linear birefringence. Optical
characterization techniques confirm that films of tantalum oxide, titanium
oxide and zirconium oxide are positive uniaxial with ne −no in the range
0.10 to 0.14.
