Wideband monitoring and measuring system for optical coatings

A wideband system, controlled by an IBM PC/XT computer, has been established for monitoring and measuring optical coatings in vacuum. With supporting software, it is adaptable to various monitoring methods, which include using merit functions as criteria for terminating deposition, and the simultaneous display of transmittance functions T, partial differentialT/ partial differentialt, and partial differentialT/ partial differentiallambda at a particular wavelength. It can also be used in the measurement of optical constants of dielectric layers in vacuum. The design considerations of the system are discussed, and experimental results are given.