Achieving higher optical power in UV laser systems is a challenging task due to the limited performance of their built-in optical elements. As a rule of thumb, interference coatings of such elements are found to be the weakest links by the means of laser-induced damage threshold (LIDT). The optical resistance is directly attributed to the fundamental absorption properties of deposited layers. Unfortunately, there are only a limited set of available materials with discrete refractive indices that are also compatible with UV applications. In this study, an attempt is made to employ sculptured layers in order to produce durable anti-reflective (AR) coatings by using the so-called glancing angle deposition (GLAD) method. Spectral, structural, mechanical and stress properties of GLAD coatings were investigated in detail. AR coatings produced by GLAD were found to be three times more laser damage resistant at 355 nm wavelength as compared to those prepared by ion beam sputtering (IBS).

A principal possibility to overcome fundamental (intrinsic) limit of pure optical materials laser light resistance is investigated by designing artificial materials with desired optical properties. We explore the suitability of high band-gap ultra-low refractive index material (n less than 1.38 at 550 nm) in the context of highly reflective coatings with enhanced optical resistance. The new generation all-silica (porous/nonporous) SiO₂ thin film mirror with 99% reflectivity was prepared by glancing angle deposition (GLAD). Its damage performance was directly compared with state of the art hafnia/silica coating produced by Ion-Beam-Sputtering. Laser-Induced Damage Thresholds (LIDT) of both coatings were measured in nanosecond regime at 355 nm wavelength. Novel approach indicates the potential for coating to withstand laser fluence of at least 65 J/cm² without reaching intrinsic threshold value. Reported concept can be expanded to virtually any design thus opening a new way of next generation thin film production well suited for high power laser applications.

The increasing demand for optics quality requires the lowest optical power loss, which can occur from unwanted reflections. Laser direct writing (LDW) allows for the fabrication of complex structures, which is particularly advantageous in micro-optic applications. This research demonstrates the possibility of forming an anti-reflective coating on hybrid polymer micro-lenses fabricated by employing LDW without changing their geometry. Such coating deposited via atomic layer deposition (ALD) decreased the reflection from 3.3% to 0.1% at a wavelength of 633 nm for one surface of hybrid organic–inorganic SZ2080™ material. This research validates the compatibility of ALD with LDW 3D multiphoton lithography synergistically, expanding its applications on optical grade sub-100 μm scale micro-optics.

Fano-like resonant coupling of electromagnetic radiation with planar waveguiding modes of nanostructured thin films is proposed and realized experimentally. Different from conventional Fano coupling to compact resonators with the discrete spectrum, we report Fano-like coupling to infinitely extended planar waveguiding modes of the spatially unbound system. We fabricated the films by the ion beam sputtering method on nano-modulated substrates. The observed Fano-like process shows extremely strong sensitivity with respect to the wavelength and especially to the incidence angle of the radiation and can potentially be used for frequency and spatial filtering of light in transmission/reflection through/from such nanostructured thin films.

Thin film growth of ${\textrm{TiO}}_2$ by physical vapor deposition processes is simulated in the Virtual Coater framework resulting in virtual thin films. The simulations are carried out for artificial, simplified deposition conditions as well as for conditions representing a real coating process. The study focuses on porous films which exhibit a significant anisotropy regarding the atomistic structure and consequently, to the index of refraction. A method how to determine the effective anisotropic index of refraction of virtual thin films by the effective medium theory is developed. The simulation applies both, classical molecular dynamics as well as kinetic Monte Carlo calculations, and finally the properties of the virtual films are compared to experimentally grown films especially analyzing the birefringence in the evaluation.