Magnolia Optical Technologies, Inc. in collaboration with the Army Research Laboratory in Adelphi, MD has been developing broad band radiation hard multi-layer anti-reflection (AR) coatings that can be used for visible and IR sensors applications including enhancing solar cell performance. These sensors and solar cells are needed for space and terrestrial applications and can operate in space environment without any degradation.
To optimize the multicolor sensor performance, minimize the reflection losses, and achieve significant reduction in the effects of solarization in space, innovative anti-reflection coatings are needed to enhance the performance of the detector / focal plane arrays. A combination of innovative materials offers the potential of developing radiation hardened anti-reflection coatings with high optical quality with controlled physical properties.
Magnolia has also developed models that allow optimization of these antireflection coatings across a broadband of interest, which should significantly improve the multicolor sensor performance. These coatings can be implemented on a variety of materials, such as, silicon, germanium, gallium arsenide, gallium nitride, and cadmium telluride for ultraviolet, visible and infrared applications, including high quality solar cells for commercial and defense applications.
Magnolia's patented process uses an oblique angle deposition technique as shown below:
