Capability and limits of the technology of complex optical interference filters

Over the last 15 years, there have been tremendous progress in the technology of optical interference filters. Nowadays, it is more and more common to fabricate optical interference filters that can combine several tens to several hundreds of layers in order to produce more and more complex optical functions. These progresses are the result of improved multilayer structures modeling and design procedures, the introduction of Virtual Deposition Process, and the development of performant physical vapor deposition machines associated with in-situ optical monitoring. In this paper, we will present actual state-of-the-art of these technologies and some typical examples of filters. We will then present some of the actual challenges and outlook in order to produce more and more performant optical components