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Woodhead Publishing Series in Electronic
and Optical Materials

Optical Thin Films and


Coatings
From Materials to Applications
Second Edition

Edited by
Angela Piegari
François Flory

An imprint of Elsevier
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Cover Designer: Miles Hitchen
Typeset by SPi Global, India
Contents
Contributors ............................................................................................................xix
Preface to the First Edition ................................................................................. xxiii
Preface ................................................................................................................ xxvii

PART I DESIGN AND MANUFACTURING OF OPTICAL


THIN FILMS AND COATINGS
CHAPTER 1 Recent developments in deposition techniques
for optical thin films and coatings ...............................3
H. Angus Macleod
1.1 Introduction.....................................................................................3
1.2 Early Processes for the Deposition of Optical Coatings ...............4
1.3 The Energetic Processes .................................................................6
1.3.1 Ion-Assisted Deposition........................................................6
1.3.2 Ion Plating.............................................................................8
1.3.3 Sputtering............................................................................10
1.4 Cathodic Arc Evaporation ............................................................15
1.5 Pulsed Laser Deposition ...............................................................15
1.6 Chemical Vapor Deposition .........................................................16
1.7 Atomic Layer Deposition .............................................................17
1.8 Sol-Gel Processes .........................................................................18
1.9 Etching ..........................................................................................18
1.10 Other Techniques..........................................................................19
1.11 Conclusion ....................................................................................19
References.....................................................................................20
CHAPTER 2 Design of complex optical coatings........................... 25
Pierre G. Verly, Daniel Poitras
2.1 Introduction...................................................................................25
2.2 Modern Numerical Thin Film Synthesis Techniques ..................27
2.2.1 Fourier Transform Method .................................................27
2.2.2 Inhomogeneous Refinement ...............................................30
2.2.3 Needle Method ...................................................................32
2.2.4 Global Optimization ...........................................................34
2.3 Manufacturability Issues...............................................................37
2.4 Hybrid Design...............................................................................40
2.4.1 Waveguide Facet Coatings.................................................41

v
vi Contents

2.4.2 Structured Coatings ............................................................44


2.4.3 Solar Cells...........................................................................48
2.5 Conclusion ....................................................................................52
References.....................................................................................53
Further Reading ............................................................................64
CHAPTER 3 Optical monitoring strategies for optical coating
manufacturing ............................................................. 65
Alexander V. Tikhonravov, Michael K. Trubetskov, Tatiana
V. Amotchkina
3.1 Introduction...................................................................................65
3.2 Classification of Optical Monitoring Strategies ..........................67
3.3 Turning Point Optical Monitoring and Error Self-Compensation
Effect.............................................................................................69
3.4 Level Monitoring: Passive and Active Monochromatic
Monitoring Strategies ...................................................................75
3.5 Monitoring by Swing Values .......................................................85
3.6 Direct Broadband Optical Monitoring .........................................89
3.7 Indirect Optical Monitoring Strategies.........................................92
3.8 Conclusion ....................................................................................97
References.....................................................................................99
CHAPTER 4 Production strategies for high-precision optical
coatings .................................................................... 103
Henrik Ehlers, Detlev Ristau
4.1 Introduction.................................................................................103
4.2 Basic Concept of Deterministic Production...............................105
4.3 Optical Broadband Monitoring ..................................................107
4.4 Hybrid Thickness Monitoring Concepts ....................................112
4.5 Virtual Deposition System .........................................................114
4.5.1 Deposition System ............................................................115
4.5.2 Online Measurement System............................................116
4.5.3 Process-Tracing Algorithm...............................................116
4.5.4 Application Example for a VDP Analysis.......................117
4.6 Direct Online Correction Tools..................................................118
4.7 Design Stability in Production Processes...................................120
4.8 Deposition Control of Coating Systems with Continuous
Refractive Index Variation .........................................................125
4.8.1 Production of Material Mixtures ......................................126
4.8.2 Deposition Control of Rugate Filters ...............................132
4.9 Conclusion ..................................................................................135
References...................................................................................136
Further Reading ..........................................................................140
Contents vii

PART II UNCONVENTIONAL FEATURES OF OPTICAL THIN


FILMS AND COATINGS
CHAPTER 5 Complex materials with subwavelength inclusions
for optical thin film applications ............................. 143
Anna Sytchkova
5.1 Introduction.................................................................................143
5.2 Physics of Some Classes of Novel Materials with
Subwavelength Inclusions ..........................................................145
5.3 Ceramic Matrix With Embedded Nanostructures......................147
5.3.1 Materials With Quantum Dots .........................................148
5.3.2 Nanoclusters in Periodic Arrays (Metamaterials)............149
5.3.3 Effect of Small Random Disorders and Imperfections
in Metamaterials ...............................................................154
5.3.4 Composites of Random Elements ....................................154
5.3.5 Coatings Containing Thin and Ultrathin Metal Layers
and Coatings Containing Metasurfaces............................155
5.4 Searching for Alternative Materials for Resonating
Inclusions ....................................................................................156
5.4.1 Alloys and Intermetallics: Novel Metal Materials ..........157
5.4.2 Semiconductors and Dielectrics .......................................160
5.5 Characterization of Novel Materials with Subwavelength
Inclusions ....................................................................................162
5.5.1 Optical Characterization Techniques for Complex
Materials ...........................................................................163
5.5.2 Local Properties of Nanostructured Materials .................165
5.5.3 Effective Macroscopic Parameters...................................166
5.5.4 Complex Materials and Ultrathin Metals in Multilayers.168
5.6 Conclusions.................................................................................172
References...................................................................................173
CHAPTER 6 Scattering properties of random structures
in thin films ............................................................... 187
Gerard Berginc, Alexei A. Maradudin
6.1 Introduction.................................................................................187
6.2 Numerical Solution of Reduced Rayleigh Equations
for Scattering of Light From Dielectric Films With 1D
Rough Surfaces ...........................................................................189
6.2.1 A Film With a 1D Randomly Rough Vacuum-Dielectric
Interface Deposited on the Planar Surface of a Perfect
Conductor..........................................................................190
viii Contents

6.2.2 A Film With a Planar Vacuum-Dielectric Interface


Deposited on a 1D Randomly Rough Perfectly
Conducting Surface ..........................................................196
6.3 Reduced Rayleigh equations for the scattering of P- and
S-Polarized Light From, and Its Transmission through, a Film
With Two 1D Rough Surfaces ...................................................200
6.3.1 p-Polarization....................................................................203
6.3.2 s-Polarization ....................................................................207
6.3.3 Results...............................................................................209
6.4 Numerical Solution of the Reduced Rayleigh Equation
for the Scattering of Light From a 2D Randomly Rough
Penetrable Surface ......................................................................213
6.5 Scattering of Light From a Dielectric Film With a 2D Randomly
Rough Surface Deposited on a Planar Metal Substrate.............216
6.5.1 Scattering of Light From a Dielectric Film With a 2D
Randomly Rough Surface Deposited on a Planar Metal
Substrate............................................................................218
6.5.2 A Dielectric Film With a Planar Interface With a
Dielectric Superstrate and a 2D Randomly Rough
Interface With a Dielectric Substrate...............................224
6.6 Analytical Methods for the Scattering From a 3D Film With
Randomly Rough Surfaces .........................................................229
6.6.1 Definition of the Scattering Matrix..................................230
6.6.2 The SSA and the SPM for a 2D Rough Surface ............. 233
6.6.3 The SSA and the SPM for Slabs With Randomly
Rough Boundaries ............................................................240
6.6.4 Conclusions.......................................................................247
6.7 Theoretical Methods for the Scattering of Polarized Light
From Randomly Rough Interfaces and Random Media ............247
6.7.1 Specific Intensity and Cross Section................................248
6.7.2 Specific Intensity and Bethe-Salpeter Equations............. 253
6.7.3 Effective Permittivity .......................................................255
6.7.4 Expression of the Intensity Operator P11 .........................256
6.7.5 Expression for the Incoherent Intensity and the Green
Tensors P11 .......................................................................259
6.7.6 Coherent Backscattering...................................................265
6.7.7 Conclusion ........................................................................273
6.8 Applications ................................................................................273
6.9 Conclusion ..................................................................................281
Appendix.....................................................................................281
Contents ix

A.1 Definitions of the Scattering Matrices for a Single Rough


Surface ................................................................................281
A.2 Mueller Matrix and Tensor ................................................282
Acknowledgments ......................................................................284
References...................................................................................284
Further Reading ..........................................................................289
CHAPTER 7 Optical properties of thin film materials at short
wavelengths .............................................................. 291
Juan I. Larruquert
7.1 Introduction.................................................................................291
7.2 Material Behavior Over the Spectrum .......................................291
7.3 Reflection and Transmission in Absorbent Materials ...............294
7.3.1 Roughness and Scattering ................................................296
7.4 The Optical Constants of Materials at Short Wavelengths .......299
7.4.1 Interaction Mechanisms Between Photons
and Matter.........................................................................299
7.4.2 Transparency Cutoff of Dielectrics..................................300
7.4.3 Free Electron Metals ........................................................301
7.4.4 Tightly Bound Electrons: Atomic Scattering
Factors...............................................................................303
7.4.5 Absorption Edges..............................................................306
7.4.6 Optical Properties at Higher Energies..............................309
7.5 Link Between n and k: Kramers-Kronig Analysis.....................314
7.6 Experimental Determination of Optical Constants ....................315
7.7 Specifics of Optical Coatings at Short Wavelengths.................318
7.7.1 Transmission Filters .........................................................318
7.7.2 High-Reflectance Coatings...............................................321
7.7.3 Linear Polarizers and Phase Retarders.............................332
7.8 Conclusion ..................................................................................341
Acknowledgements.....................................................................342
References...................................................................................342
CHAPTER 8 Controlling thermal radiation from surfaces............ 357
Carl G. Ribbing
8.1 Introduction.................................................................................357
8.2 Blackbody Radiation ..................................................................359
8.3 Emissivity ...................................................................................362
8.4 Optically Selective Coatings ......................................................367
8.4.1 Coatings for Thermal Solar Collectors ............................367
8.4.2 Energy-Efficient Window Coatings .................................374
x Contents

8.4.3 Coatings for Control of Radiative Exchange With the


Atmosphere .......................................................................377
8.5 Conclusion ..................................................................................384
References...................................................................................385
Further Reading ..........................................................................387
CHAPTER 9 Color in optical coatings .......................................... 389
Claudio Oleari
9.1 Introduction.................................................................................389
9.2 The Development of the Understanding of Interference
Color ...........................................................................................390
9.2.1 Isaac Newton (1642–1727)...............................................390
9.2.2 Thomas Young (1773–1829)............................................392
9.2.3 Leopoldo Nobili (1784–1835)..........................................393
9.2.4 David Brewster (1781–1868) ...........................................394
9.2.5 Auguste Michel-Levy (1844–1911) .................................394
9.2.6 J.F. Gabriel Lippmann (1845–1921) ................................398
9.2.7 Soap Bubbles ....................................................................398
9.2.8 Lens Optical Coatings ......................................................398
9.2.9 Thin Film Anticounterfeiting Coatings............................399
9.3 Overview of Basic Colorimetry .................................................399
9.3.1 Psychophysical Colorimetry of Color Stimuli .................400
9.3.2 Psychophysical Colorimetry of Light Sources
and Nonself-Luminous Surfaces ......................................406
9.3.3 Psychometric Colorimetry................................................408
9.4 Optical Coating Colorimetry ......................................................410
9.4.1 Gonio-Apparent Color Measurement ...............................411
9.4.2 Optical Coating Color ......................................................413
9.5 Conclusion ..................................................................................419
Acknowledgments ......................................................................419
References...................................................................................419
Further Reading ..........................................................................421

PART III NOVEL MATERIALS FOR OPTICAL THIN


FILMS AND COATINGS
CHAPTER 10 Organic optical coatings .......................................... 425
Thomas Neubert, Michael Verg€ohl
10.1 Introduction.................................................................................425
10.2 Specific Properties of Organic Layers .......................................426
10.3 Optical Coatings With Organic Layers......................................429
Contents xi

10.4 Deposition Techniques ...............................................................429


10.4.1 Thermal Evaporation ......................................................430
10.4.2 Sputter Deposition ..........................................................432
10.4.3 Plasma-Enhanced Chemical Vapor
Deposition (PECVD) ......................................................434
10.4.4 Nonplasma-Activated Chemical Vapor
Deposition .......................................................................438
10.4.5 Adhesion Improvement by Plasma
Treatment ........................................................................441
10.5 Composites..................................................................................441
10.6 Conclusion ..................................................................................443
References...................................................................................443

CHAPTER 11 Surface multiplasmonics with periodically


nonhomogeneous thin films ..................................... 449
Muhammad Faryad, Akhlesh Lakhtakia
11.1 Introduction.................................................................................449
11.2 Historical Development ..............................................................450
11.3 Periodically Nonhomogeneous Dielectric Materials .................452
11.3.1 Rugate Filters..................................................................452
11.3.2 Sculptured Nematic Thin Films .....................................452
11.4 Canonical boundary-value problem ...........................................454
11.4.1 Theoretical Formulation .................................................454
11.4.2 Metal/Rugate-Filter Interfaces........................................457
11.4.3 Metal/SNTF Interface.....................................................460
11.5 Grating-coupled configuration ...................................................462
11.5.1 Metal/Rugate-Filter Interface .........................................462
11.5.2 Metal/SNTF Interface.....................................................467
11.6 Turbadar–Kretschmann–Raether Configuration ........................471
11.6.1 Metal/Rugate-Filter Interface .........................................471
11.6.2 Metal/SNTF Interface.....................................................476
11.7 General Remarks ........................................................................477
11.8 Suggestions for Future Work .....................................................479
11.8.1 Excitation of Multiple SPP Waves With Finite
Sources............................................................................479
11.8.2 Compound Surface-Relief Gratings ...............................479
11.8.3 Effects of Multiple SPP Waves on the Efficiency
of Thin-Film Solar Cells ................................................480
11.9 Resources ....................................................................................480
References...................................................................................480
xii Contents

CHAPTER 12 Optical thin films containing quantum dots ............. 487


François Flory, Yu-Jen Chen, Hung-Ju Lin
12.1 Introduction and Overview.........................................................487
12.2 Modeling .....................................................................................488
12.3 Electronic Properties of Quantum Wells and the Effective
Mass Model ................................................................................489
12.4 Electronic Properties of Quantum Dots .....................................493
12.4.1 Optical Properties ...........................................................494
12.5 Properties of Thin Films Containing Quantum Dots.................495
12.5.1 Realization ......................................................................495
12.5.2 Characterization ..............................................................497
12.6 Applications ................................................................................505
12.6.1 Hybrid Organic/Quantum Dot Solar Cells.....................505
12.6.2 Lighting and Displays ....................................................507
12.7 Optical Interference Coatings Containing Quantum Dots.........508
12.8 Conclusion ..................................................................................509
Acknowledgments ......................................................................510
References...................................................................................510
Further Reading ..........................................................................512

PART IV APPLICATIONS OF OPTICAL THIN FILMS


AND COATINGS
CHAPTER 13 Optical coatings on plastic for antireflection
purposes.................................................................... 517
Ulrike Schulz, Robert W. Schaffer
13.1 Introduction.................................................................................517
13.2 Transparent Polymer Materials for Optics.................................517
13.3 Plastics in Vacuum Coating Processes.......................................520
13.3.1 Interaction With Emissions From Plasma......................520
13.3.2 Thermal and Stress-Related Effects ...............................522
13.3.3 Water Absorption and Desorption .................................523
13.3.4 General Considerations for Plasma-Assisted Vacuum
Coating Processes ...........................................................525
13.4 Antireflection Methods...............................................................526
13.4.1 Vacuum Deposited Antireflective Coatings ..................526
13.4.2 Antireflective Structures.................................................528
13.4.3 Wet-Chemical AR Coatings on Plastics ........................531
13.5 Conclusion ..................................................................................532
Contents xiii

13.6 Sources of Further Information and Advice ..............................533


References...................................................................................533
Further Reading ..........................................................................537
CHAPTER 14 Protective coatings for durability enhancement
of optical surfaces .................................................... 539
Tjhay W. Boentoro, Bernd Szyszka, Ludvik Martinu
14.1 Introduction.................................................................................539
14.2 Plasma- and Ion-Based Deposition of Functional Coatings ......540
14.3 Testing Methods .........................................................................544
14.3.1 Taber Abraser Test of Abrasion Resistance ..................545
14.3.2 Sand Trickling Test ........................................................546
14.3.3 Scratch Test ....................................................................546
14.3.4 Crack Onset Strain..........................................................547
14.3.5 Adhesion Tests................................................................547
14.3.6 Weathering Test..............................................................549
14.3.7 Characterization of the Optical Properties.....................550
14.3.8 Haze ................................................................................551
14.4 Coating Concepts........................................................................551
14.4.1 Coating Systems on Glass Substrate ..............................552
14.4.2 Coating System on Polycarbonate Substrate .................552
14.4.3 Numerical Simulation.....................................................553
14.4.4 Multifunctional Coatings................................................553
14.5 Examples of Protective Coating Applications ...........................556
14.5.1 Low-E Coatings on Windshield .....................................556
14.5.2 Polycarbonate in Automotive Glazing ...........................557
14.6 Conclusion ..................................................................................559
References...................................................................................561
CHAPTER 15 Optical coatings for displays and lighting ............... 565
Cheng-Chung Lee, Chien-Cheng Kuo
15.1 Introduction.................................................................................565
15.2 Optical Coatings for Flat Panel Display (FPD) .........................566
15.3 Optical Coatings for Projectors ..................................................568
15.4 Optical Coatings for Projectors Using Light-Emitting Diode (LED)
Light Source................................................................................571
15.5 Optical Coating for Automobiles Head Up Display (HUD) .....583
15.6 Optical Coatings for LEDs .........................................................586
15.7 Conclusion ..................................................................................589
Acknowledgments ......................................................................591
References...................................................................................591
Further Reading ..........................................................................594
xiv Contents

CHAPTER 16 Innovative approaches in thin-film photovoltaic


cells .......................................................................... 595
Nicolas Barreau, David Duche, Carmen M. Ruiz,
Ludovic Escoubas, Jean-Jacques Simon, Judikael Le Rouzo,
Veronica Bermudez
16.1 Introduction.................................................................................595
16.2 Inorganic Nanostructures for Photovoltaic Solar Cells .............599
16.2.1 New Concepts of Solar Cells .........................................599
16.2.2 Light Trapping and Photo-Carrier Collection................600
16.2.3 Quantum Dots and Nanowires Included in Thin-Film
Solar Cells.......................................................................601
16.3 Organic Thin-Film Solar Cells...................................................604
16.3.1 Working Principles of an Organic Solar Cell................605
16.3.2 Light Trapping Strategies for Organic Solar
Cells (OSCS) ...................................................................608
16.4 Chalcogenide Materials in Thin-Film Solar Cells .....................611
16.4.1 The Substrates.................................................................612
16.4.2 The Device Stack for Cells ............................................613
16.4.3 State-of-the-Art Technologies at Industry Level ........... 617
16.4.4 Novel Chalcogenide Absorbers......................................617
16.4.5 Vacuum-Free Deposition................................................618
16.5 Organometallic Perovskite-Based Solar Cells ...........................618
16.6 Conclusion ..................................................................................623
References...................................................................................624
Further Reading ..........................................................................632
CHAPTER 17 Optical coatings for security and authentication
devices ...................................................................... 633
Bill Baloukas, Ludvik Martinu
17.1 Introduction.................................................................................633
17.2 Basic Principles and Structures Currently Applied ...................634
17.2.1 All-Dielectric Filters.......................................................636
17.2.2 Metal-Dielectric Filters ..................................................638
17.2.3 Optically Variable Pigments ..........................................643
17.3 Specific Optical Effects Suitable for Security Devices .............644
17.3.1 Metamerism ....................................................................644
17.3.2 Magnetic Films ...............................................................648
17.3.3 Combining Interference and Diffraction........................649
17.3.4 Other Color Shifting Technologies ................................651
17.4 Active Devices............................................................................652
17.4.1 Application of Active Materials.....................................652
17.4.2 Electrochromic Devices..................................................654
Contents xv

17.5 Film Functionality and Structurally Controlled Optical


Coatings ......................................................................................656
17.6 Conclusion ..................................................................................658
References...................................................................................659
CHAPTER 18 Optical coatings for high-intensity femtosecond
lasers ........................................................................ 667
Volodymyr Pervak
18.1 Introduction to the Field of Ultrafast Optics .............................667
18.2 Mirror Design Approaches .........................................................669
18.2.1 Dispersive Mirrors ..........................................................669
18.2.2 Resonant Structure or Gires-Tournois Interferometer
Mirror..............................................................................670
18.2.3 Double-Chirped Mirrors .................................................671
18.2.4 Brewster-Angle CM........................................................672
18.2.5 Back-Side-Coated CM....................................................673
18.2.6 Tilted-Front-Interface CM..............................................673
18.2.7 Complementary Pairs of CMs ........................................674
18.2.8 The Time-Domain DM...................................................676
18.2.9 Double-Angle DM ..........................................................677
18.2.10 Pulse Compression and Analysis .................................677
18.3 The Highest Possible Value of GDD .........................................678
18.4 Production of DM.......................................................................679
18.5 Pulse Compression With DM.....................................................680
18.6 Measurement of Group Delay With White Light
Interferometer .............................................................................684
18.7 Application of DM in the High-Intensity Lasers.......................687
18.8 Conclusions.................................................................................691
References...................................................................................691
CHAPTER 19 Optical coatings for large facilities ......................... 697
Catherine Grèzes-Besset, Gregory Chauveau, Laurent Pinard
19.1 Introduction.................................................................................697
19.2 Domains of Applications and Major Programs .........................697
19.2.1 Scientific Large Instruments ..........................................698
19.2.2 Laser................................................................................699
19.2.3 Space ...............................................................................701
19.2.4 Astronomy.......................................................................702
19.2.5 Solar Plants .....................................................................702
19.3 Review of Technological Solutions ...........................................703
19.3.1 Thermal and Electron Gun Evaporation ........................703
19.3.2 Sputtering........................................................................704
xvi Contents

19.4 Thin-Film Uniformity: Key Problem .........................................706


19.5 Focus on Large Magnetron Sputtering Facility .........................708
19.6 Highlights on Two Major Programs ..........................................711
19.6.1 Focus on LMJ .................................................................711
19.6.2 Focus on Virgo ...............................................................713
19.7 Conclusion ..................................................................................715
References...................................................................................715
Relevant Websites ......................................................................718
Further Reading ..........................................................................718

CHAPTER 20 Optical coatings for automotive and building


applications .............................................................. 719
Chris H. Stoessel
20.1 Introduction.................................................................................719
20.2 The Role of Thermal Control in Glazing ..................................720
20.2.1 Building Window Energy Efficiency.............................721
20.2.2 Automotive Window Energy Efficiency........................722
20.3 Window Coating Types by Functionality ..................................723
20.3.1 Low Emissivity...............................................................723
20.3.2 Spectral Selectivity (Infrared Reflecting,
Ultraviolet Blocking)......................................................724
20.3.3 Antiglare .........................................................................726
20.4 Glazing Types: Monolithic, Laminated, and Multicavity
Glazing Designs..........................................................................726
20.5 Coatings on Glass Substrates .....................................................727
20.5.1 Low-Emissivity Coatings ...............................................727
20.5.2 Antiglare .........................................................................728
20.6 Coatings on Polymer Substrates.................................................729
20.6.1 Films for Laminates........................................................730
20.6.2 Films for Multicavity Glazing Applications ..................731
20.6.3 Applied Window Film Products for Retrofit
Applications ....................................................................731
20.7 Special Considerations for Applications ....................................731
20.7.1 Automotive Applications................................................732
20.7.2 Building Applications.....................................................734
20.8 Conclusion ..................................................................................736
20.9 Future Trends..............................................................................737
20.10 Sources of Further Information and Advice ..............................738
Acknowledgments ......................................................................738
References...................................................................................738
Contents xvii

CHAPTER 21 Transparent conductive thin films ........................... 741


Clark I. Bright
21.1 Introduction.................................................................................741
21.1.1 Transparent Conductive Oxides .....................................742
21.1.2 Transparent Metallic Thin Films....................................744
21.2 Conductivity Fundamentals ........................................................746
21.2.1 Metals..............................................................................746
21.2.2 Doping.............................................................................747
21.2.3 Optical Properties Related to Conductivity ...................748
21.3 Control of Optoelectronic Properties .........................................753
21.4 Beyond Optoelectronic Properties..............................................754
21.5 Traditional Applications .............................................................755
21.5.1 Heaters ............................................................................755
21.5.2 Electromagnetic Interference Shielding .........................757
21.5.3 Antistatic Films...............................................................757
21.5.4 Transparent Electrodes ...................................................757
21.5.5 Energy-Efficient Windows .............................................764
21.6 Recent Applications....................................................................767
21.6.1 Conductive AR ...............................................................767
21.6.2 Touch Sensors.................................................................770
21.6.3 OLED Lighting...............................................................773
21.6.4 Transparent Oxide Electronics .......................................774
21.7 Future Applications ....................................................................775
21.7.1 Beyond TFT....................................................................775
21.7.2 Transparent OLED .........................................................776
21.7.3 Transparent PV (Solar) Cells .........................................777
21.7.4 Transparent Electrochromic Windows...........................778
21.8 Conclusion ..................................................................................779
21.8.1 Future Developments and Outlook for n-Type TCTF...780
21.8.2 Future Developments and Outlook for p-Type TCTF...782
21.8.3 Other Review Articles ....................................................783
References...................................................................................784
Sources of Further Information and Advice ..............................788
Further Reading ..........................................................................788

CHAPTER 22 Optical coatings in the space environment ............. 789


Denny Wernham, Angela Piegari
22.1 Introduction.................................................................................789
22.2 The Space Environment .............................................................789
22.2.1 General Overview of Optics in Space............................790
xviii Contents

22.2.2 Impact of Space Vacuum ...............................................791


22.2.3 Thermal Cycling in Vacuum ..........................................794
22.2.4 Solar Irradiance...............................................................798
22.2.5 Particulate Radiations .....................................................799
22.2.6 Atomic Oxygen...............................................................801
22.3 Contamination.............................................................................801
22.3.1 Terrestrial Contamination...............................................801
22.3.2 Space Contamination Effects .........................................804
22.4 Product Assurance for Space Coatings ......................................806
22.4.1 End to End Traceability .................................................806
22.4.2 Process Control...............................................................807
22.4.3 Nonconformance Control ...............................................807
22.4.4 Space Qualification.........................................................808
22.5 Conclusion ..................................................................................809
Acknowledgments ......................................................................809
References...................................................................................810

Index ......................................................................................................................813
Contributors
Tatiana V. Amotchkina
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universit€ €nchen, Garching, Germany
at Mu
Bill Baloukas
Department of Engineering Physics, Polytechnique Montreal, Montreal, QC,
Canada
Nicolas Barreau
Nantes University, CNRS, Institut des Materiaux Jean Rouxel (IMN), (UMR6502),
Nantes, France
Gerard Berginc
Thales, La D
efense, France
Veronica Bermudez
Nexcis, Rousset, France
Tjhay W. Boentoro
Fraunhofer Institute for Surface Engineering and Thin Films—IST, Braunschweig,
Germany
Clark I. Bright
Bright Thin Film Solutions LLC, Tucson, AZ, United States
Gr
egory Chauveau
CILAS, Aubagne, France
Yu-Jen Chen
National Central University, Taoyuan, Taiwan
David Duche
Aix-Marseille University, University Toulon, CNRS, IM2NP, Marseille, France
Henrik Ehlers
Laser Zentrum Hannover, Hannover, Germany
Ludovic Escoubas
Aix-Marseille University, University Toulon, CNRS, IM2NP, Marseille, France
Muhammad Faryad
Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics, The Pennsylvania State
University, University Park, PA, United States
François Flory
Ecole Centrale Marseille, Marseille, France
Catherine Grèzes-Besset
CILAS, Aubagne, France

xix
xx Contributors

Chien-Cheng Kuo
National Central University, Taoyuan City, Taiwan
Akhlesh Lakhtakia
Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics, The Pennsylvania State
University, University Park, PA, United States
Juan l. Larruquert
Institute of Optics-Spanish National Research Council, Madrid, Spain
Judikael Le Rouzo
Aix-Marseille University, University Toulon, CNRS, IM2NP, Marseille, France
Cheng-Chung Lee
National Central University, Taoyuan City, Taiwan
Hung-Ju Lin
National Central University, Taoyuan, Taiwan
H. Angus Macleod
Thin Film Center Inc., Tucson, AZ, United States
Alexei A. Maradudin
University of California, Irvine, CA, United States
Ludvik Martinu
Department of Engineering Physics, Polytechnique Montreal, Montreal, QC,
Canada
Thomas Neubert
Fraunhofer Institute for Surface Engineering and Thin Films—IST, Braunschweig,
Germany
Claudio Oleari
University of Parma, Parma, Italy
Volodymyr Pervak
Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany
Angela Piegari
Optical Coatings Group, ENEA, Rome, Italy
Laurent Pinard
Lyon I University—CNRS-IN2P3, Lyon, France
Daniel Poitras
National Research Council of Canada, Ottawa, ON, Canada
Carl G. Ribbing
Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
Detlev Ristau
Laser Zentrum Hannover, Hannover, Germany
Contributors xxi

Carmen M. Ruiz
Aix-Marseille University, University Toulon, CNRS, IM2NP, Marseille, France
Robert W. Schaffer
Evaporated Coatings Inc., Willow Grove, PA, United States
Ulrike Schulz
Fraunhofer Institute of Applied Optics and Precision Engineering IOF, Jena,
Germany
Jean-Jacques Simon
Aix-Marseille University, University Toulon, CNRS, IM2NP, Marseille, France
Chris H. Stoessel
Southwall Technologies (a Subsidiary of Eastman Chemical Co.), Palo Alto, CA,
United States
Anna Sytchkova
ENEA Optical Components Group, Rome, Italy
Bernd Szyszka
TU Berlin, Institute for High Frequency and Semiconductor System Technologies,
Berlin, Germany
Alexander V. Tikhonravov
Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia
Michael K. Trubetskov
€nchen, Germany
Max-Planck Institute of Quantum Optics, Garching bei Mu
Michael Verg€ohl
Fraunhofer Institute for Surface Engineering and Thin Films—IST, Braunschweig,
Germany
Pierre G. Verly
National Research Council of Canada, Ottawa, ON, Canada
Denny Wernham
The European Space Agency (ESA), Noordwijk, The Netherlands
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Preface to the First Edition
The field of optical coatings was thoroughly investigated in the last century and the
optical effects of thin films were known even before then, as described by Newton
and other scientists in the eighteenth century.The antireflection effect of a single
layer on glass was first discovered by Fraunhofer in 1817 but the real development
of simple antireflection coatings using vacuum deposition techniques was made in
the 1930s, both in Europe and the United States. The understanding of optical inter-
ference in thin films and the development of the formalism for the propagation of
electromagnetic waves through a layered medium paved the way for designing
and producing multilayer coatings in the years following. The deposition under
vacuum of metal films for obtaining high-reflectance mirrors was also developed
at the industrial level in the first half of the twentieth century, even though mirrors
were known long before that, and metal-dielectric filters started to be produced at
that time as well.
Since then, much progress has been made in coating design, owing to both the fast
development of computers and the implementation of dedicated software. At the
same time, the improvements in the technologies for deposition of thin films
have allowed ever more reliable coating manufacturing. Nowadays optical coatings
are considered an important sector of optical components and often they represent
the critical part of entire optical systems, therefore significant efforts are dedicated
to improve their performance. Applications can be found in many areas: lasers, smart
windows, clean energy, environmental monitoring, telecommunications, astronomy,
aerospace, displays and lighting, and anti-counterfeiting devices are only some
examples of a long list. As there is an increasing demand for optics in many fields,
the range of applications for optical thin films and coatings is widening more
and more.
Thin-film optical coatings is an active field of research and innovative break-
throughs are continuously being made, especially in investigations on new materials
and structuring of the coating morphology. The development of heterogeneous
nanostructures is enlarging the use of thin films and this area is now part of
nanophotonics.
A number of books have already been published on both optical coating design
and thin-film deposition techniques, as well as on characterization methods, and
there is a vast literature on these topics. Thus we decided to dedicate this book mainly
to developments on thin-film materials and applications, for optics and related fields.
The book is divided in four parts. The initial chapters in Part I are devoted to
classical topics and give a short review of each subject, including new advances.
A survey of deposition techniques for optical thin films opens the book
(Chapter 1), followed by a description of the methods of design of complex optical
coatings (Chapter 2), these being two subjects of central relevance in each approach
to optical coatings. Then, the monitoring of coating fabrication (Chapter 3) and the

xxiii
xxiv Preface to the First Edition

production technologies for high-precision coatings (Chapter 4) are described, with a


look at historical developments and new strategies.
Part II is dedicated to some special features of optical thin films and coatings, like
plasmonic effects for optical applications (Chapter 5), scattering in random struc-
tures (Chapter 6), thin film properties at short wavelengths (Chapter 7), thermal radi-
ation control (Chapter 8) and color effects (Chapter 9).
Part III follows with some recent developments on film materials, starting with
organic films and coatings (Chapter 10); then an overview of surface multiplasmo-
nics with non-homogeneous thin films is given (Chapter 11) and finally a description
of optical films containing quantum dots (Chapter 12) closes this part of the book.
The chapters from 13 to 22, in Part IV, are dedicated to applications and represent
almost half of the book. They cover different fields, even though they are not exhaus-
tive of all possible areas in which optical thin films can be useful. This last part of the
book starts with antireflection coatings on plastic (Chapter 13) and protective coat-
ings for optical surfaces (Chapter 14), then continues with applications in displays
and lighting (Chapter 15), photovoltaic cells (Chapter 16) and security devices
(Chapter 17). The next two chapters (Chapter 18 and Chapter 19) are dedicated,
respectively, to the application of coatings in high-intensity femtosecond lasers
and to coatings in large facilities involving lasers and space.
The last chapters give an overview on automotive and building applications
(Chapter 20), transparent conductive coatings (Chapter 21) and the behavior of
optical coatings in space (Chapter 22).
It is difficult to include in a single book all the interesting applications, such as
for example: optical sensors, optical coatings for telecommunications, optics for art
conservation, biological and medical applications, and more. Therefore a selection
has necessarily been made. Moreover, characterization methods are not specifically
dealt with, even though they are of great importance in this field not only to control
the optical properties but also to test the environmental resistance of coatings; there
are many types of characterization methods for thin films and coatings and some of
them are described in different chapters.
The diffusion nowadays of multimedia and the possibility of downloading from
the web single chapters of the book, means that each chapter should be self-
contained. As a consequence, some overlaps can be found between several chapters.
For example optical monitoring strategies are described in both Chapters 3 and 4,
plasmonics is present in the title of Chapters 5 and 11, organic thin films are men-
tioned in Chapters 10 and 16 and solar cells in Chapters 2 and 16, transparent con-
ductive coatings appear in Chapters 20, 21 and others as well. However, even when
similar topics are described by more than one author, the approach is substantially
different and complementary. More details can be found in the contents of each chap-
ter, which will be accessible through the web.
The authors come from both research institutes and industry, thus a combination
of theoretical contributions and practical views can be seen throughout the whole
book. All contributors are renowned specialists in their fields and many of them,
as well as the editors, have been working in the area of optical thin films for more
Preface to the First Edition xxv

than thirty years. Several chapters are authored by experts who took part in the early
developments in the specific sectors, and published many fundamental works.
We hope the book will be useful for scientists and technical people, providing an
overview of the key role of optical coatings in different fields and stimulating the
reader’s interest to go deeper in each topic, taking advantage of the bibliographic
material in all chapters.
The potential readers of this book may be physicists, chemists and engineers,
including senior students, interested in both research developments and practical
applications. Newcomers to the field of optical thin films and coatings could be
attracted by the extremely wide range of applications, while specialists of a particular
field could find information on the new trends in their area of interest.
We wish to thank all authors for their valuable contributions and efforts and we
are also grateful to the Publishers for their assistance during the preparation of
the book.

Angela Piegari
Rome, Italy

François Flory
Marseille, France
March 2013
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Preface
The second edition of the book comes 5 years after the first edition, and this work
would not have been possible without the support of Elsevier Publisher, especially
Kayla Dos Santos who asked us to review the book 2 years ago and followed all the
steps till the publication, together with her collaborators.
In the recent years, the field of optical coatings expanded, however, the topics
included in the first edition are still valid, with some chapters dedicated to traditional
subjects, some others devoted to new materials and features, and many chapters cov-
ering specific applications. We decided to leave the structure of the book unchanged
and divided it into four parts, with 22 chapters grouped in the following areas:
(I) design and manufacturing of optical thin films and coatings, (II) unconventional
features of optical thin films and coatings, (III) novel materials for optical thin films
and coatings, and (IV) applications of optical thin films and coatings.
In this edition most of the chapters have been revised, adding recent develop-
ments and updating the bibliography. Only two chapters have been reprinted without
variations (Coatings for lighting and thermal radiation control) because the authors
were no longer available; nevertheless we preferred to keep the original writings of
these chapters because their contents are still of interest to our community. In spite of
including additional material, the book is far from complete; there are several other
interesting subjects in the field of optical thin films and coatings. Books dedicated
to specific aspects are available and also the topics included in this book could be
analyzed in greater detail using the bibliography reported in each chapter.
In a few chapters of this edition, new names were added to the list of original
contributors, being the revision made by new authors. We wish to thank especially
the new contributors because they accepted the difficult task of acting on a text
written by others.
We are deeply grateful to all the authors for dedicating time and efforts to revise
their chapters; we also wish to acknowledge the helpful support of the Elsevier staff
and thank all readers of the book.
Angela Piegari
François Flory

xxvii
This page intentionally left blank
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
The Project Gutenberg eBook of Radio mates
This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States
and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no
restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it
under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this
ebook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the
United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where
you are located before using this eBook.

Title: Radio mates

Author: Benjamin Witwer

Illustrator: Frank R. Paul

Release date: December 11, 2023 [eBook #72380]

Language: English

Original publication: New York: E. P. Co., Inc, 1927

Credits: Roger Frank and Sue Clark

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RADIO


MATES ***
Radio Mates

“Think of it! A twist of a switch and the living, breathing piglet slowly
dissolved before my eyes and vanished along a pair of wires to my
aerial, whence it was transferred as a set of waves in the ether to the
receiving apparatus—there to reincarnate into the living organism
once more, alive and breathing, unharmed by its extraordinary
journey!”

RADIO MATES
by Benjamin Witwer

From the telegraph to the telephone was but a step. From the telephone to
radio constituted but another such step, and we are now enjoying radio
broadcast from stations thousands of miles away. Every time you have an
X-ray photograph taken you are bombarded, not by rays, but by actual
particles that go right through the walls of the tube, which particles are just
as real as if they were bullets or bricks, the only difference being that they
are smaller. Thus our scientists lead up to the way of sending solids
through space. While impossible of achievement, as yet, it may be
possible, years hence, to send living beings through space, to be received
at distant points. At any rate, the author of this story weaves a fascinating
romance around this idea. It makes excellent reading, and the plot is as
unusual as is its entire treatment.

It was a large brown envelope, of the size commonly used for


mailing pamphlets or catalogues. Yet it was registered, and had
come by special messenger that afternoon, my landlady informed
me. Probably it was a strain of that detective instinct which is present
in most of us that delayed my opening the missive until I had
carefully scrutinized the handwriting of the superscription. There was
something vaguely familiar in its slanting exactitude, yet when I
deciphered the postmark,—“Eastport, N. Y.,”—I was still in the dark,
for I could not remember ever having heard of the place before. As I
turned the packet over, however, my pleasant tingle of anticipation
was rudely chilled. Along the flap was a sinister row of black sealing
wax blobs, which seemed to stare at me with a malignant fore-
knowledge. On closer examination, I noticed that each seal retained
the impression of a coat-of-arms, also elusively familiar.
With a strange sense of foreboding I dropped the missive on the
table. Queer what ominous significance a few drops of wax can
impart to an ordinary envelope. Deliberately I changed into smoking
jacket and slippers, poked the well laid fire and lit a pipe before
finally tearing open the seals.
There were many typewritten sheets, commencing in letter form:

54 Westervelt Ave.,
Eastport, New York,
February 15th.
Dear Cousin George:
Now that you have identified me by referring to my signature on
the last page (which I had just done) you will no doubt wonder at the
occasion for this rather effusive letter from one so long silent as I
have been. The fact of the matter is that you are the only male
relative with whom I can communicate at this time. My nephew,
Ralph, is first officer of a freighter somewhere in the Caribbean, and
Alfred Hutton, your mother’s first cousin, has not been heard from
since he embarked on that colonizing scheme in New Guinea, nearly
a year ago.
I must do all in my power to prevent the bungling metropolitan
police from implicating Howard Marsden in my disappearance. It
would take no great stretch of the imagination to do just that, and
were the State to require Marsden’s life as forfeit for my own, then
my carefully planned revenge would be utterly frustrated. I have
been cultivating the village postmaster for some weeks, ever since
this plan began to shape definitely in my mind. I am mailing this letter
at three o’clock this afternoon, for I have noticed that at that hour the
postal section of the store is generally deserted. I shall ask him if his
clock is correct, thus fixing the time in his mind. Please remember
these points. Then I shall register this letter, taking care to exhibit the
unusual collection of seals on the back. I shall manage to inform him
also that I stamped the seals with my ring and will show him the
coat-of-arms, explaining its meaning in detail. These villagers are a
curiosity-ridden lot. Upon returning home, I shall drop this same ring
into the inkwell which stands upon my desk. Finally I shall proffer my
friend the postmaster a fifty-dollar bill in paying for my registry. The
registry slip itself will be found within the hatband of my brown hat,
which I shall place in the wall safe of my study.
You are becoming more amazed as you proceed, no doubt asking
yourself if this letter is the product of a madman or a faker. Before
you have finished you will probably be assured that both
assumptions are correct. It matters little, for I will at least have firmly
established the fact that this letter was mailed by no one else but
me. As for the rest, Howard Marsden will corroborate what follows.
To begin at the beginning. As you know, or perhaps you do not
know, for I forget that our correspondence has been negligible of
late, five years ago I accompanied the Rodgers expedition into
Afghanistan. We were officially booked as a geological mission, but
were actually in search of radium, among other things. When I left, I
was practically engaged to Venice Potter, a distant relation of the
Long Island Potters, of whom you have perhaps heard. I say
“practically” engaged because the outcome of this expedition was to
furnish me with the standing and position necessary for a formal
demand for her hand. As I said, that was nearly five years ago.
Four months after my departure her letters ceased coming and
mine were returned to me unopened. Two months later I received an
announcement of her betrothal to Howard Marsden. Received it out
there in Afghanistan, when I had returned to the coast for supplies.
We’ll skip that next year, during which I stuck with the expedition. We
were successful. I returned.
Then I found out where the Marsdens were living, here in
Eastport. I’d met Marsden once or twice in the old days, but paid him
little attention at the time. He seemed but another of the moneyed
idlers; had a comfortable income from his father’s estate and was
interested in “gentleman farming,”—blooded stock and the rest. I
decided that it was useless to dig into dead ashes for the time being,
at least until I could determine the lay of the land, so to speak.
Meanwhile I had my researches to make, a theory I had evolved as a
sort of backfire to fill that awful void of Venice’s loss,—out there on
the edge of the world. Countless sleepless nights I had spent in a
feverish attempt to lose myself in scientific speculation. At last I
believed I had struck a clue to conclusions until now entirely
overlooked by eager searchers. I decided to establish my laboratory
here in Eastport, perhaps devoting any leisure hours to an
unravelling of that mystery of my sudden jilting. With a two-year-old
beard and sunbaked complexion there were few who would have
recognized me under my real name, and none in my assumed role of
“Professor Walters.”

Thus it was that I leased an old house not half a mile from Marsden’s
pretentious “farm.” I converted the entire ground floor into a
laboratory, living in solitary state upon the upper floor. I was used to
caring for myself, and the nature of my experiment being of such
potentialities, I felt that I wanted no prying servants about me.
Indeed, it has turned out to be of such international importance that I
feel no compunction whatever in utilizing it for my own selfish ends.
It could be a boon to humanity, yet its possibilities for evil in the
hands of any individual or group is so great as to render it most
dangerous to the happiness of the human kind on this small globe.
One day, some three months after I had taken up my residence in
Eastport, I had a visitor. It was Marsden. He had been attracted by
the sight of my novel aerial, just completed. By his own admission he
was an ardent “radio fan,” as they are popularly termed, I believe,
and he spent the better part of an afternoon bragging of stations he
had “logged” with his latest model radio set. Aside from my vague
suspicions of his complicity in the alienation of my beloved Venice, I
must admit that even then I felt an indefinable repulsion towards him.
There was something intangibly unwholesome about him, a
narrowness between the eyes which repelled me. Yet, although at
that time I had no plan in mind, nevertheless I encouraged him in my
most hospitable manner, for even thus early I felt, that at some time
not far distant, I might be called upon to utilize this acquaintanceship
to my own advantage.
This first visit was followed by others, and we discussed radio in
all its phases, for the man had more than a smattering of technical
knowledge on the subject and was eager to learn more. At last, one
day, I yielded to his insistence that I inspect his set and agreed to
dine at his house the following evening. By now I felt secure in my
disguise, and although I dreaded the moment when I should actually
confront my lost love once more, yet I longed for the sweet pain of it
with an intensity which a hard-shelled bachelor like you will never
understand. Enough. I arrived at the Marsden’s the next evening and
was duly presented to my hostess as “Thomas Walters.” In spite of
my private rehearsals I felt a wave of giddiness sweep over me as I
clasped that small white hand in my own after the lapse of almost
five years, for she was, if possible, lovelier than ever. I noted when
my vision cleared that her eyes had widened as they met mine. I
realized that my perturbation had been more apparent than I
imagined and managed to mutter something about my alleged “weak
heart,” a grimmer jest by far than I intended. Frantically I fortified
myself with remembrances of those barren days in Afghanistan,
where I stayed on and on, impotent to raise a hand in the salvage of
my heart’s wreckage.
We chatted politely all through that interminable meal, no morsel
of which aroused the faintest appreciation on my dry tongue. Finally
the chairs were pushed back and my host excused himself to bring
down some pieces of apparatus he had recently purchased,
concerning which he professed to desire my invaluable opinion.
No sooner had he left the room than the polite smile dropped from
Venice’s face like a discarded mask.
“Dick,” she cried, “what are you doing here?”
It was my first inkling that she suspected my true identity. I rallied
quickly, however, and allowed my self-encouraged bitterness its
outlet.
“Had I believed you would recognize me, Mrs. Marsden, I should
not have inflicted my unwelcome presence upon you, I can assure
you.”
She bit her lips and her head raised with a jerk. Then her mouth
softened again as her great eyes searched mine.
“Yes, but why—” she broke off at the sound of approaching
footsteps. Suddenly she leaned forward. “Meet me in the pine grove
to-morrow afternoon—four o’clock,” she breathed. Then her husband
entered.
The remainder of the evening I was forced to listen to Marsden’s
eager dissertation on the alleged “static eliminator” which had been
foisted upon him on his last trip to the city. Mechanically I answered
or grunted in simulated appreciation when a pause in his endless
monologue warned me that some reply was expected of me; but my
pulses were leaping in exultation because of the fleeting hope which
those few words from my lost Venice had kindled. I could not
imagine why the offer to bridge the breach of years should come
from her so voluntarily, yet it was enough for me that she
remembered and wished to see me. I cared not why.
I arrived nearly an hour early that next afternoon, for I had been
unable either to sleep or work during the interim. I shall not bore you
with the particulars of that meeting, even were I free to reveal such
sacred details. Suffice to say that after the preliminaries of doubt and
misunderstanding had been brushed away—and it was not the
simple process this synopsis would seem to infer, I can assure you—
I stood revealed as the victim of a most ingenious and thoroughly
knavish plot. Boiled down, it resembles one of those early movie
scenarios.
You remember I spoke of Venice as related to the Long Island
Potters, a branch of the family highly rated in the Social Register?
You will also remember that before I undertook that expedition I was
never particularly certain whence my next year’s expenses were to
be derived, nor to what extent, if you understand what I mean. At
about the time I was preparing for this expedition which I hoped
would make me financially and scientifically independent, this
wealthy branch of the family seriously “took up” my darling Venice,
inviting her to live with them that summer. I remember now all too
late, that even during that confusion of mind caused by the agony of
leaving my loved one, coupled with the feverish preparations for
departure, chill clouds of censure came from the aloof Potters. They
made no effort to mask their disapproval of my humble self and
prospects, yet in my blindness I had never connected them
intimately with what followed.
It was, in short, the old story of the ingenious man-on-the-ground,
the “good match,” aided and abetted by the patronesses of the “poor
relation.” The discriminating Marsden naturally fell in love with
Venice, and to his great surprise and chagrin, was decisively
repulsed by her. Never before having been refused anything he
really wanted in his comfortably arranged life, he became
passionately desirous of possessing her. Accordingly, my darling
was shown a letter, forged with such diabolical cleverness as to be
almost indistinguishable from my own hand. It purported to intrigue
me with a very ordinary female at a period coincident with the time I
had been so fervently courting my dear one.
She refused to credit the document and dispatched me a
voluminous explanation of the whole occurrence. Attributing my
silence to the exigencies of distance, she continued to write me for
over a month. When no answer arrived after nearly three long
months, she at length delivered a hastily planned ultimatum, to which
she was later persuaded to adhere through the combined pressure
of Marsden and her family, beating against the razed defences of her
broken heart. Then it was that I received the betrothal
announcement, the only communication her watchful family had
permitted to escape their net of espionage.

As the story unfolded, my heart pounded with alternate waves of


exaltation and red rage at the treacherous Marsden. Because of
selfish duplicity, he had robbed us both of five years’ happiness, for I
had forced my darling’s admission that she had never loved him, and
now despised him as a common thief. My brief moment of delirious
joy was sharply curtailed, however, when I came to press her to
separate from this selfish swine. After some demur she confided that
he was a drug addict. She said that he had been fighting desperately
to break this habit ever since their marriage, for his jealous love of
her was the only remaining weapon with which to combat his deep
rooted vice. Deprived of his one motive, my darling earnestly
assured me that it would be a matter of but a few short years before
the white powders wrote Finis to yet another life. I could see but a
balancing of an already overdrawn account in such an event, and
said so in no uncertain terms. She did not chide me, merely patiently
explained with sweet, sad resignation that she held herself
responsible for his very life for the present. That although she could
not love and honor him as she had promised, yet she was bound to
cleave to him during this, his “worse” hour. And so we left it for the
time, our future clouded, yet with no locked door to bar the present
from us.
We met almost daily, unless Marsden’s activities interfered. At
those times I was like a raging beast, unable to work, consumed with
a livid hatred for the cunning thief who had stolen my love while my
back was turned. I could not shake her resolution to terminate this
loveless match, even though she now loathed the mate she had
once tolerated. But in spite of the formlessness of our future, my
work progressed as never before. Now my days were more than a
mere procession of dates, for each was crowned with the glow of
those few stolen moments with my darling Venice.
Came the day of my first complete success. Some weeks
previously I had finally succeeded in transmitting a small wooden ball
by radio. Perhaps I should say that I had “dissolved” it into its
vibrations, for it was not until this later day that I had been able to
materialize or “receive” it after it had been “sent.” I see you start and
re-read this last sentence. I mean just what I say, and Marsden will
bear me out, for as you shall see, he has witnessed this and other
such experiments here in my laboratory. I have explained to him as
much as I wanted him to know of the process, in fact, just enough so
that he believes that a little intensive research and experimentation
on his part will make him master of my secret. But he is entirely
ignorant of the most important element, as well as of the manner of
its employment.
Yes, after years of study and interrupted experimental research I
was enabled finally to disintegrate, without the aid of heat, a solid
object into its fundamental vibrations, transmit these vibrations into
the ether in the form of so-called “radio waves” which I then attracted
and condensed in my “receiving” apparatus, slowly damping their
short kinked vibration-rate until finally there was deposited the
homogeneous whole, identical in outline and displacement,—entirely
unharmed from its etheric transmigration!
My success in this, my life’s dream, was directly the result of our
discoveries on that bitter expedition into Afghanistan. All my life I had
been interested in the study of vibrations, but had achieved no
startling successes or keen expectations thereof until we stumbled
upon that strange mineral deposit on what was an otherwise ill-fated
trip for me. It was then that I realized that radioactive niton might
solve my hitherto insurmountable difficulty in the transmission of
material vibrations into electronic waves. My experiments thereafter,
while successful to the degree that I discovered several entirely new
principles of resonic harmonics, as well as an absolute refutation of
the quantum theory of radiation, fell far short of my hoped-for goal.
At that time I was including both helium and uranium in my improved
cathode projectors, and it was not until I had effected a more
sympathetic combination with thorium that I began to receive
encouraging results. My final success came with the substitution of
actinium for the uranium and the addition of polonium, plus a finer
adjustment which I was able to make in the vortices of my three
modified Tesla coils, whose limitations I had at first underrated. I was
then enabled to filter my resonance waves into pitch with my
“electronic radiate rays,” as I called them, with the success I shall
soon describe.
Of course, all this is no clearer than a page of Sanskrit to you, nor
do I intend that it shall be otherwise. As I have said, such a secret is
far too potent to be unloosed upon a world of such delicately poised
nations, whose jaws are still reddened from their recent ravening. It
needs no explanation of mine to envision the terrible possibilities for
evil in the application of this great discovery. It shall go with me—to
return at some future, more enlightened time after another equally
single-minded investigator shall have stumbled upon it. It is this latter
thought which has caused me to drop the hints that I have. My
earnest hope is that you will permit the misguided Marsden to read
the preceding paragraph. In it he will note a reference to an element
which I have not mentioned to him before, and will enable him to
obtain certain encouraging results,—encouraging but to further
efforts, to more frantic attempts. But I digress.
With my success on inanimate objects, I plunged the more
enthusiastically into my work. I should have lost all track of time but
for my daily tryst with Venice. Her belief in me was the tonic which
spurred me on to further efforts after each series of meticulously
conducted experiments had crumbled into failure. It was the
knowledge that she awaited me which alone upheld me in those dark
moments of depression, which every searcher into the realms of the
unknown must encounter.
Then came the night of November 28th, the Great Night. After
countless failures, I finally succeeded in transmitting a live guinea pig
through the atmosphere and “received” it, alive and well, in the
corner of my laboratory. Think of it! A twist of a switch and the living,
breathing piglet slowly dissolved before my eyes and vanished along
a pair of wires to my aerial, whence it was transferred as a set of
waves in the ether to the receiving apparatus,—there to reincarnate
into the living organism once more, alive and breathing, unharmed
by its extraordinary journey! That night I strode out into the open and
walked until dawn suddenly impressed the gray world upon my
oblivious exaltation, for I was King of the Universe, a Weaver of
Miracles.
Then it was that my great plan began to take shape. With
renewed energy I began the construction of a mammoth transmitter.
At intervals I “transmitted” stray cats and dogs of every description,
filling several books with notes wherein I recorded minutely the
varying conditions of my subjects before transmission. Invariably
their condition upon being “cohered” in the receiving tube, was
excellent. In some cases, indeed, minor ailments had entirely
disappeared during their short passage through the ether. What a
study for the medical profession!
I had, of course, told Venice the object of my researches long ago,
but had never brought her to my laboratory for reasons of discretion.
One afternoon, however, I slipped her in under cover of the heavy
downpour. After I had warmed her with a cup of tea, before her
astonished eyes I transmitted an old she-cat which was afflicted with
some sort of rheumatism or paralysis of its hind legs. When its form
began to reappear in the transparent receiving tube, my darling
gasped in awed wonder. She was rendered utterly speechless,
however, when I switched off the current and released the animal
from its crystal prison. And no wonder, for it gambolled about like a
young kitten, all trace of its former malady having entirely
disappeared! The impression upon Venice was all that I had hoped
for, and when I at length escorted her out into the dusk, I felt her
quick, awed glances flickering over me like the reverence of a shy
neophyte for the high priest.

All was set for the final act. I literally hurled myself into the
completion of my improved set. The large quantities of certain
minerals required caused me an unexpected delay. This I filled with
demonstrations in the presence of Marsden, whom I was
encouraging as a fellow radio enthusiast,—with considerable
unexpected histrionic ability on my part. It was so hard to keep my
fingers off his throat! I pretended to explain to him the important
factors of my great secret, and drilled him in the mechanical
operation of the sets. I had divulged to him also that my greatest
desire was to demonstrate my principle on a human being, and like
all great scientific explorers, proposed to offer myself as the subject.
Venice had strenuously opposed the proposal until the
demonstration on the diseased cat, and even now viewed the entire
proposition with alarm. Yet I insisted that unless applied to human
beings my entire work went for naught, and I finally succeeded in
quieting her fears to a great extent.
At last I am ready. I have told my darling how it is impossible to
transmit anything metallic by the very nature of the conflicting rays
encountered. I have bemoaned the fact that, due to the softness of
my teeth since boyhood, my mouth is one mass of metallic fillings
and crowns, rendering it impossible for me to test the efficiency of
my life’s work. As I had hoped, she has volunteered herself as the
subject for the great experiment, for her white teeth are as yet
innocent of fillings. I have demurred and refused to listen to the idea,
permitting myself to be won over only after days of earnest argument
on her part. We are not to tell Marsden, for there is no doubt that his
fanatical love for her would refuse to tolerate the mere suggestion.
Tonight it shall be accomplished. There is no other way, for that
accursed husband of hers seems to progress in neither direction. He
will be nothing but a mud-buried anchor until the end of her days,
while I—I love her. What other excuse need be offered?
But to the facts. At eight o’clock that drug-soaked love pirate
comes to officiate at my transmission through space. I shall meet
him with a chloroformed soaked rag. Later he will awake to find
himself effectively gagged, with his hands and feet firmly shackled to
the wall of a dark corner of my laboratory. These shackles consist of
armatures across the poles of large electro-magnets which I have
embedded in the walls. At 10:30, a time switch will cut off the
current, releasing the wretch, for, above all things, he must live. I
debated sending a message for his chauffeur to call for him here at
the designated hour. I have decided rather to trust to mechanical
certitude than lay my plan open to frustration because of some
human vagary.
At nine o’clock Venice comes for the great experiment. Marsden
has told her that he will remain in the city over night, at my
suggestion, so that in case I fail to materialize after being “sent” he
cannot be held in connection with my disappearance. She does not
know that I have had my teeth extracted and have been using India
rubber plates for nearly a month. By the time she has arrived, the
effects of the chloroform will have entirely worn off from my would-be
assistant, and I shall have had plenty of time to introduce myself
properly to him and explain the evening’s program which has been
so carefully arranged for his benefit.
Then he will have the excruciating pleasure of watching his
beloved wife dissolve into—nothingness! Soon thereafter he will
witness the same process repeated upon myself, for I have so
adapted the apparatus that I need no outside assistance other than a
time-clock to actuate the mechanism! Then, at the appointed hour,
the current will be shut off and the frenzied wretch will rush to the
distant switch controlling the receiving apparatus. As he throws the
metal bars into their split receptacles there will come a blinding flash,
and behold—the apparatus will have disappeared in a puff of
crystalline particles! The secret has returned whence it came!
Then will come that personally prepared hell for my mean spirited
forger. As I told you, he believes that he is in possession of enough
of the details of my secret to reconstruct the apparatus and duplicate
my success. The added details of this letter will assure him into an
idiotic confidence which will lead him on and on through partially
successful attempts. I know that no matter whether you sympathize
with my actions or not (and I am sure that you do not, for you never
have), your sense of justice will force you to show this letter to the
proper authorities in order to prevent a fatal bungling.
Meanwhile that miserable sneak will be frenzied with the
knowledge that at last, the lover he so long cheated of his loved one
is now with her, alone,—where he, her lawful husband, can never
follow. And we shall be together, unchanged, awaiting the day when
some other enlightened mortal solves Nature’s riddle, when we shall
once more assume our earthly forms, unhindered by other selfish
manbeasts.

Farewell,
Bromley Cranston.

Needless to say, I hurried to Eastport. But my trip was unnecessary. I


found Harold Marsden in a “private sanitarium” for the hopelessly
insane. There all day, and as far into the night as the opiates would
permit him, he is to be found seated before a radio set, the
earphones clamped to his head—listening. His statements,
methodically filed away by the head of the place, corresponded
wildly with the prophecies of my strange letter. Now he was listening
to fragmentary messages from those two he had seen precipitated
into space, he maintained. Listening.
And they had disappeared, utterly. I found the large seal ring in
the inkwell on the desk. Also the slip in the hatband of the hat which
had been placed in the wall safe, unlocked. The postmaster
remembered the seals on the letter my cousin had mailed, and the
approximate time he had received it. I felt my own reason wavering.
That is why, fantastic as is the whole affair, I cannot yet bear the
sound of one of those radio loud speakers. It is when that inarticulate
sound they call “static” occurs, when fragments of words and
sentences seem to be painfully attempting to pierce a hostile
medium,—that I picture that hunched up figure with its spidery
earphones,—listening. Listening. For what?
The End

Transcriber’s Note: This story appeared in the July 1927 issue of


Amazing Stories Magazine.
*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RADIO MATES
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