Abstract

The reflectance of metal-enhanced, high-reflectance mirrors containing amorphous Si and SiO multilayers has been found to be stable in a simulated natural space environment containing the combined effects of solar ultraviolet light, energetic protons, and electrons.¹ By eliminating the metal-enhancing layer from the stack and depositing the coating design on a silicon or fused silica substrate, the resulting low atomic number (Z) structure presents a low-absorption cross section for x-rays. Thus, it becomes an interesting design for studying the thermal and thermomechanical response of multilayer coatings to pulsed x-ray deposition.

© 1987 Optical Society of America