Advanced Al mirrors protected with LiF overcoat to realize stable mirror coatings for astronomical telescopes

Manuel A. Quijada; Luis V. Rodriguez de Marcos; Javier G. Del Hoyo; Emrold Gray; Edward J. Wollack; Ari Brown

doi:10.1117/12.2630585

29 August 2022 Advanced Al mirrors protected with LiF overcoat to realize stable mirror coatings for astronomical telescopes

Manuel A. Quijada, Luis V. Rodriguez de Marcos, Javier G. Del Hoyo, Emrold Gray, Edward J. Wollack, Ari Brown

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 12188, Advances in Optical and Mechanical Technologies for Telescopes and Instrumentation V; 121881V (2022) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2630585
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2022, Montréal, Québec, Canada

Abstract

We present aluminum (Al) mirrors protected with a flash lithium fluoride (LiF) overcoat. Each of these Al and LiF layers are produced with a novel room-temperature reactive Physical Vapor Deposition (rPVD) process that consists of exposing these films growth to a fluorine-containing xenon di-fluoride (XeF2) gas. We report two sets of Al/LiF mirrors produced with this rPVD process. The first set is optimized at a wavelength of 121.6 nm and presents an unprecedented reflectance of 92.6% at this wavelength. The second set is optimized at shorter wavelengths by reducing the thickness of the LiF overcoat to have a more balance reflectance performance in the far-ultraviolet (FUV) spectral range from 90-200 nm. This new process is observed to produce more durable and less hygroscopic mirrors than those fabricated with standard PVD process, and has utility in realizing an intrinsic high reflectance of aluminum in the critical FUV spectral range.

Conference Presentation

Citation Download Citation

Manuel A. Quijada, Luis V. Rodriguez de Marcos, Javier G. Del Hoyo, Emrold Gray, Edward J. Wollack, and Ari Brown "Advanced Al mirrors protected with LiF overcoat to realize stable mirror coatings for astronomical telescopes", Proc. SPIE 12188, Advances in Optical and Mechanical Technologies for Telescopes and Instrumentation V, 121881V (29 August 2022); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2630585

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