The present disclosure provides an infrared reflector for a LIDAR, the infrared reflector including a substrate, and a multilayer dielectric film deposited on the substrate, in which the multilayer dielectric film includes a first plurality of low-refractive layers each having a relatively lower refractive index than a high-refractive layer, and a second plurality of low-refractive layers each having a relatively lower refractive index than the low-refractive layer, and the first plurality of low-refractive layers and the second plurality of low-refractive layers are alternately and repeatedly stacked. According to the present disclosure, the infrared reflector may be independent of an incident angle, i.e., have high reflectance while having the reflectance that does not vary depending on the incident angle.

An aerospace mirror having a reaction bonded (RB) silicon carbide (SiC) mirror substrate, and a SiC cladding on the RB SiC mirror substrate forming an optical surface on a front side of the aerospace mirror. A method for manufacturing an aerospace mirror comprising obtaining a green mirror preform comprising porous carbon, silicon carbide (SiC), or both, the green mirror preform defining a front side of the aerospace mirror and a back side of the aerospace mirror opposite the front side; removing material from the green mirror preform to form support ribs on the back side; infiltrating the green mirror preform with silicon to create a reaction bonded (RB) SiC mirror substrate from the green mirror preform; forming a mounting interface surface on the back side of the aerospace mirror from the RB SiC mirror substrate, and forming a reflector surface of the RB SiC mirror substrate on the front side of the aerospace mirror. Additionally, the method can comprise cladding the reflector surface of the RB SiC mirror substrate with SiC to form an optical surface of the aerospace mirror.

An aerospace mirror having a reaction bonded (RB) silicon carbide (SiC) mirror substrate, and a SiC cladding on the RB SiC mirror substrate forming an optical surface on a front side of the aerospace mirror. A method for manufacturing an aerospace mirror comprising obtaining a green mirror preform comprising porous carbon, silicon carbide (SiC), or both, the green mirror preform defining a front side of the aerospace mirror and a back side of the aerospace mirror opposite the front side; removing material from the green mirror preform to form support ribs on the back side; infiltrating the green mirror preform with silicon to create a reaction bonded (RB) SiC mirror substrate from the green mirror preform; forming a mounting interface surface on the back side of the aerospace mirror from the RB SiC mirror substrate, and forming a reflector surface of the RB SiC mirror substrate on the front side of the aerospace mirror. Additionally, the method can comprise cladding the reflector surface of the RB SiC mirror substrate with SiC to form an optical surface of the aerospace mirror.

Systems and methods for embodiments having an extra thick ultraviolet durability coating are described herein. For example, a system may include a laser block assembly. The system may also include a cavity in the laser block assembly. Further, the system may include a plurality of multilayer mirrors in the cavity. In certain embodiments, at least one multilayer mirror of the plurality of multilayer mirrors may include a plurality of alternating layers of a first optical material having a high index of refraction and a second optical material having a first low index of refraction. Additionally, the at least one multilayer mirror may include a multilayer durability coating disposed on the plurality of alternating layers.

An optical structure surface including a plurality of display region groups including a first display region group and a second display region group. In each display region group, an azimuth angle is formed between a projection direction and a reference direction, and a plurality of reflective surfaces belonging to the display region produce an image. A plurality of display regions include a set of display regions whose azimuth angles are different from each other, and the plurality of display regions display an image unique to the display region group in a display direction by a plurality of reflective surfaces of each of the display regions. The display directions of the first display region group and the second display group are different to provide a different brightness to their respective images, in the respective display directions of the images.

Disclosed herein are optical elements and methods for making the same. Such optical elements may comprise a first layer disposed on a substrate, a second layer disposed on the first layer, a terminal layer disposed on the second layer, and a cap layer disposed on the terminal layer. The cap layer may comprise boron, boron nitride, or boron carbide. Such optical elements may be made using a method comprising depositing a first layer using vapor deposition such that the first layer is disposed on a substrate, depositing a second layer using vapor deposition such that the second layer is disposed on the first layer, depositing a terminal layer using vapor deposition such that the terminal layer is disposed on the second layer, and depositing a cap layer comprising boron, boron nitride, or boron carbide using vapor deposition such that the cap layer is disposed on the terminal layer.

A high-efficiency, multiwavelength beam-expander optical system that employs dielectric-enhanced mirrors is disclosed. Each mirror includes a reflective multilayer coating formed from alternating layers of HfO.sub.2 and SiO.sub.2 that define, in order from the substrate surface, at least first and second sections, wherein the HfO.sub.2/SiO.sub.2 layer thicknesses are generally constant within a given section and get smaller section by section moving outward from the substrate surface. The first and second sections are respectively configured to optimally reflect different operating wavelengths so that the beam-expander optical system has an optical transmission of greater than 95% at the different operating wavelengths.

A light shielding plate includes an infrared transmitting region next to a visible/infrared opaque region. The light shielding plate includes a glass plate including first and second principal surfaces; a visible/infrared opaque film on or over the second principal surface; an infrared transmitting film on or over the first principal surface or the second principal surface; and a light absorption film on or over the first principal surface or the second principal surface. The light shielding plate includes a visible/infrared opaque region including the visible/infrared opaque film; and an infrared transmitting region that transmits infrared light next to the visible/infrared opaque region, the light absorption film is in the visible/infrared opaque region and the infrared transmitting region, and the infrared transmitting film is at least in the infrared transmitting region.

An electronic device may include conductive structures having a visible-light-reflecting coating. The coating may include a seed layer, transition layers, a neutral-color base layer, and an uppermost layer that forms a single-layer interference film. The neutral-color base layer may be opaque to visible light. The interference film may include silicon and may have an absorption coefficient between 0 and 1. The interference film may include, for example, CrSiCN or CrSiC. The composition of the interference film, the thickness of the interference film, and/or the composition of the base layer may be selected to provide the coating with a desired color in the visible spectrum (e.g., at blue or purple wavelengths). The color may be relatively stable even if the thickness of the coating varies across its area.

Optical structures, including thin film designs and components with topography, are provided that achieve significantly improved laser damage thresholds and/or ultra-low-loss. These advances may be achieved by utilizing a bulk window comprising a material having a band gap that is at least 5.0 eV and a thickness. The bulk window can be configured to increase the laser induced damage threshold of the underlying optical structure.