Very Low Absorption ISAM Coatings

"The proposed research program will develop a high-reliability, cost-effective application technique for coating optical elements that are subject to intense laser fluences to control the reflectivity from the element surface. The coating technique iscalled Ionic Self-Assembly of Monolayers (ISAM) and has been an area of intense research and development at Luna Innovations. The original ISAM process was used to coat substrates with ionic polymers, but the technique can be used to deposit a mixture ofionic polymers and nanoparticles (or microparticles), or to deposit a mixture of two different nano/microparticles. This method of creating multifunctional thin-films monolayer by monolayer has been proven to yield self-assembled, homogeneous polymer thinfilms that can be deposited on any size and shape substrates, as well as on transparent flexible substrates. The ISAM technique allows for precise structural and thickness control at the nanometer level as well as for fabrication of thick multi-layerfilms. Luna Innovations and its research collaborators have previously demonstrated that the ISAM technique can be used to fabricate a variety of self-assembled, electronically and photonically- active polymeric thin films. The development of the very lowabsorption films is an important component in the development of highly reflective or anti-reflective coatings. Very low absorption coatings have commercial applications in the development of