Determination of the Optical Constants of Molecular Beam Deposited Thin Films

The wide application of optical multilayer interference coatings has prompted the "growth" of numerous new vacuum and non vacuum techniques [1]. One such approach is that of Molecular Beam Deposition (MBD). A molecular beam epitaxy system, in our case an adapted VG Semicon V90H kit, is used under ultra high vacuum conditions for the production of polycrystalline films deposited on optically transparent substrates. Applications include, high damage threshold laser coatings [2], and also the fabrication of high finesse nonlinear Fabry Perot interference filters (NLIF) for use as logic, memory or threshold devices in the field of digital optical computing [3].