Abstract

Inexpensive, light weight polymers offer significant cost saving and design flexibility for optical applications. Polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) is the most often used polymer in precision optics. It shows excellent optical properties and can easily be manufactured to form components of complicated geometry by injection molding. However, the use of plastics for optical applications is limited by physical properties of organic polymers^[1,2]. The application fields for plastic optics could be expanded by coating the components. Thin anorganic films are effective to realize optical functions and to improve scratch resistance and environmental durability. Thermally induced stress caused by the different thermal expansion of organic substrate and anorganic thin films, as well as, low deposition temperatures are main problems in coating polymers. In addition, because of differing chemical behavior, each kind of polymer requires its special pre-treatment to realize sufficient adherence.

© 1998 Optical Society of America