Nanostructured Self Assembled Antireflective Coatings for Seeker Windows

During the proposed Phase I SBIR program, NanoSonic will fabricate novel multilayered self-assembled coatings onto the surface of infrared (IR) optical substrates that will impart exceptional hardness, impact and thermal shock resistance properties, far superior to that of the uncoated material. In addition, NanoSonic will also self-assemble an anti-reflective coating onto the substrate, increasing the transmission of light of a prescribed and targeted bandwidth though the optical substrate, enhancing the sensitivity of the optically-protected IR seeker device. The combination of these two coatings will demonstrate the utility of our patented electrostatic self assembly method, which can be tailored to provide an array of coatings properties to a substrate of interest, with very controlled thicknesses in the range of several to hundreds of nanometers, with minimal variation and exceptional surface roughness control.