The effects of the diameter of SiO₂ nanopillars, the diameter of Ag nanospheres, the arrays’ period, and the medium environment on the plasmonic lattice resonance (PLR) formed by Ag nanospheres on SiO₂ nanopillar arrays are systematically investigated. Larger diameters of SiO₂ nanopillars with other parameters kept constant will widen the PLR peak, redshift the PLR wavelength, and weaken the PLR intensity. Larger diameters of Ag nanospheres with other parameters kept constant will widen the PLR peak, redshift the PLR wavelength, and strengthen the PLR intensity. Larger array periods or larger refractive index of medium environment corresponds to larger PLR wavelengths.

The effect of thermal annealing on the optical properties, microstructure, and laser-induced damage threshold (LIDT) of HfO₂/Ta₂O₅/SiO₂ HR films has been investigated. The transmission spectra shift to a short wavelength and the X-ray diffraction peaks of monoclinic structure HfO₂ are enhanced after thermal annealing. The calculated results of the m( 111) diffraction peak show that the HfO₂ grain size is increased, which is conducive to increasing the thermal conductivity. Thermal annealing also reduces the laser absorption of high-reflection films. The improvement of thermal conductivity and the decrease of laser absorption both contribute to the improvement of LIDT. The experimental results show that the highest LIDT of 22.4 J/cm² is obtained at 300°C annealing temperature. With the further increase of annealing temperature, the damage changes from thermal stress damage to thermal explosion damage, resulting in the decrease of LIDT.

A λ/4–λ/4 broadband antireflective (AR) coating is developed with a sol-gel dip-coating method. By adding SAR-5 organosilicon resin into a base-catalyzed silica sol top layer and treating at 300°C, a broadband AR coating used for blast shields with a high average transmission of 99.34% (450–950 nm) and good hydrophobicity (with a water-contact angle of 119°) was obtained. After being subjected to rubbing 50 times and being maintained at a relative humidity of around 95% for 50 days, the average transmission of the coating decreased by 0.29% and 0.04%, respectively. This indicates that the organically modified silica (ORMOSIL) broadband AR coating has good abrasion resistance and humidity stability.

In optical studies on layered structures, quantitative analysis of radiating interfaces is often challenging due to multiple interferences. We present here a general and analytical method for computing the radiation from two-dimensional polarization sheets in multilayer structures of arbitrary compositions. It is based on the standard characteristic matrix formalism of thin films, and incorporates boundary conditions of interfacial polarization sheets. We use the method to evaluate the second harmonic generation from a nonlinear thin film, and the sum-frequency generation from a water/oxide interface, showing that the signal of interest can be strongly enhanced with optimal structural parameters.

The Pd/B4C multilayer is a promising candidate for high reflectance mirrors operating in the 8–12 nm extreme ultraviolet wavelength region. To extend the working bandwidth beyond the L-edge of silcon, we theoretically design broadband Pd/B4C multilayers. We discuss the influence of the desired reflectance of the plateau, number of bilayers, and the real structural parameters, including the interface widths, layer density, and thickness deviation, on the reflectivity profile. Assuming the interface width to be 0.6 nm, we design aperiodic multilayers for broad wavebands of 9.0–10.0, 8.5–10.5, and 8.0–11.0 nm, with average reflectivities of 3.1%, 5.0%, and 9.5%, respectively.

A tunable plasmonic perfect absorber with a tuning range of ～650 nm is realized by introducing a 20 nm thick phase-change material Ge2Sb2Te5 layer into the metal–dielectric–metal configuration. The absorption at the plasmonic resonance is kept above 0.96 across the whole tuning range. In this work we study this extraordinary optical response numerically and reveal the geometric conditions which support this phenomenon. This work shows a promising route to achieve tunable plasmonic devices for multi-band optical modulation, communication, and thermal imaging.

In our investigation, lead germanium telluride, which is a pseudo-binary alloy of IV-VI narrow-gap semiconductor compounds of PbTe and GeTe, can be used in the fabrication of mid-wavelength infrared narrow bandpass filters as a high-index coating material, due to its high refractive index, lower absorption, and tunability of fundamental absorption edges. It is demonstrated that a half-width of 160 nm and a better rejection ratio can be obtained for a simple 8-layer double cavity filter with a central wavelength at 4 μm, compared with a half-width of 390 nm for those conveniently fabricated using Ge as high-index material.

In this Letter, we propose a method of fabricating linear variable filters by ion beam etching with masking mechanisms. A triangle-shaped mask is designed and set between the ion source and sample. During the ion etching, the sample is moved back and forth repeatedly with a constant velocity for the purpose of obtaining the linearly varied thickness of the cavity. Combined with ion beam assistant thermal oxidative electron beam evaporation deposition technology, we finish the fabrication of linear variable filters, whose filtering range is from 500 to 580 nm. The measured results indicate that the transmittance and bandwidth at the peak wavelength are around 40% and 3 nm.