Absorption Changes in Single Films of Titanium Dioxide and in Titanium Dioxide/Silicon Dioxide Multilayers

Abstract

Titanium Oxide film produced by reactive electron beam evaporation typically have a columnar microstructure1,2,3,4,5. The optical performance of such films often varies due to the absorption of water vapor. Since water is transparent in the visible region it might be expected that the changes there would be reasonably free of absorption. We report here two methods that have been investigated where significant changes in absorption occur. When the environmental changes cab be reversed, the absorption is also reversible.