RF Transparent, Tailored Reflectivity Coatings

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will develop novel RF transparent but Visible- and IR-reflective coatings for large aperture windows. This will be accomplished by incorporating specific nanoparticles in thin films that can bedeposited on any type of window substrate, including transparent plastic sheets such as polystyrene. The ionically self-assembled monolayer (ISAM) technique of fabricating these films allows for precise molecular level control over the assembly of a thinfilm with exceptional homogeneity and ease of processing. ISAM nonlinear optical films offer additional major advantages of low scattering loss, high thermal and chemical stability, simplicity and low-cost. Luna Innovations and its universitycollaborators have shown that revolutionary ISAM methods of creating multifunctional thin-films monolayer by monolayer can be used to yield a wide variety of self-assembled, electronically and photonically-active polymeric thin films, including lightemitting diodes, photovoltaic devices, second order nonlinear optical films, to mention a few of the applications for the ISAM thin films.Besides the military applications of the ISAM RF transparent IR/Vis Reflective coatings, other fields, such asautomotive industry, will benefit from these results. The new transparent sheets can reduce the heating in buildings and automobiles due to infrared absorption, thus reducing their cooling costs.