Hollow glass waveguides with multilayer polystyrene and metal sulfide thin film coatings for improved infrared transmission

The overall goal of this project was to improve transmission of infrared radiation in hollow waveguides. First, polystyrene was studied as a new dielectric material for silver-coated hollow glass waveguides. The deposition and performance of polystyrene, as a single dielectric layer, were investigated. The potential of polystyrene as the low index of refraction material in a multilayer coating was also demonstrated. Cadmium sulfide and lead sulfide were each considered as the high index material in the multilayer stack. Multilayer silver coated hollow glass waveguides can be formed using polystyrene and either cadmium sulfide or lead sulfide. These material pairs are interesting because they form a multilayer structure with high index contrast, which can significantly lower the loss of a waveguide. The deposition of lead sulfide was also optimized in this project. Lead sulfide, as a single layer dielectric coating, is an attractive material for transmission of longer wavelength radiation, especially 10.6 µm. It is also of interest for emerging applications such as metals processing by lasers because hollow waveguides with silver and lead sulfide can make a low loss waveguide. Losses as low as 0.1dB/m were achieved. The deposition of zinc sulfide and zinc selenide was also investigated in this project. They are of interest because of their small extinction coefficients at longer wavelengths and potential for use in waveguides used for materials processing. The numerous simultaneous chemical reactions occurring during deposition of these materials makes obtaining pure films difficult. Gold was evaluated as a replacement for silver as the highly reflecting metallic layer. It was considered an attractive alternative because it has greater resistance to degradation in high temperature and corrosive environments. All samples were made using an electroless process. Characterization of the samples was performed using the optical techniques of FTIR and UV-visible spectroscopy. Loss measurements were performed in the laboratory using Er:YAG and CO2 infrared lasers. Profilometry measurements were conducted to quantify the roughness of the polymer films and the metal sulfide films. Polymer films had roughness values between 25 and 40 nm and when overcoated with CdS the roughness increased to 240 nm.Ph.D.Includes bibliographical references