Abstract

It has been reported that the reststrahlen band of beryllium oxide can be exploited for the purpose of frost prevention in situations when non-selective low emittance metallic coatings cannot be used¹. The lattice band of high reflectance for beryllium oxide is strong in the region 9-15 μm which supresses the thermal emission in the primary atmospheric window 8-13μm. Consequently the radiative exchange of a BeO surface is limited to the surrounding atmosphere even if the latter is dry and clear. It was shown experimentally that less frost was formed upon BeO surfaces than on other alternative ceramic materials used as high power insulators. It was equally effective for frost prevention as conducting tin oxide on glass¹.

© 1992 Optical Society of America