P. Patsalas

Optical properties of amorphous carbons and their applications and perspectives in photonics

Thin Solid Films 519 (2011) 3990-3996

Amorphous carbon exhibits a wide variety of optical properties and, thus, offers substantial opportunities for various applications in photonics. The main optical properties, which should be taken into account for the design of new photonic devices, are the refractive index n, the fundamental gap E_g and the E₀₄ gap. In this work, the optical properties of the various forms of amorphous carbon films grown by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition, pulsed laser deposition, sputtering and vacuum cathodic arc deposition and the crucial structural and chemical factors that determine n, E_g, and E₀₄ are reviewed. The knowledge of the optical properties of such films is exploited in order to design and implement various photonic devices such as: 1) anti-reflection (AR) coatings for various uses including photovoltaic modules, 2) interferometric sensors and indicators based on carbon-based AR layers, and 3) laser patterning of amorphous carbons and study of its photosensitivity for holographic applications.

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Cited Articles

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