Sculptured Thin Films: Nanoengineered Morphology and Optics

Sculptured thin films (STFs) are a class of nanoengineered materials with properties that can be designed and realized in a controllable manner using physical vapor deposition. This text, presented as a short course at the SPIE Optical Science and Technology Symposium, couples detailed knowledge of thin-film morphology with the optical response characteristics of STF devices. An accompanying CD contains Mathematica (TM) programs for use with the presented formalisms. Thus, readers will learn to design and engineer STF materials and devices for future applications, particularly with optical applications. Graduate students in optics and practicing optical engineers will find the text valuable, as well as those interested in emerging nanotechnologies for optical devices.

Contents

- Preface

- List of Acronyms

- List of Principal Symbols and Operators

- Overview

- History of Thin-Film Morphology

- PVD Methods for STFs

- Engineering of Thin-Film Morphology

- Speculations on STF Morphology

- Macroscopic Electromagnetism

- Optics of Columnar Thin Films

- Optics of Sculptured Nematic Thin Films

- Optics of Chiral STFs

- Optical Applications of Chiral STFs

- Appendix: Dyads and Dyadics

- Bibliography

- Index