Anti Reflective Coatings

Anti Reflective Coatings

Where there is light, there will be reflection – A true statement perhaps, but there are many applications in our modern world that benefit from zero reflection, none more so than the safety screens that we have all now become used to.

Why have anti reflective coatings?

In some cases, reflections are useful. Imagine your morning routine without a mirror! For some this could be catastrophic and fear-inducing, so we will park that… Seriously though, anti reflection coatings can be of huge benefit in a variety of areas. Common usage would be lenses in spectacles and in solar cells.

Other uses of anti reflective coatings are (probably obviously) almost always visual based. Think retail displays within a well-lit environment. The medical industry utilise anti reflective coatings for their instrument displays, and the same can be said for the military industry.

More recently, in a bid to halt the spread of COVID, there has been huge demand for transparent screens, acting as a barrier to provide protection to people on either side of said barrier. Diamond Coatings responded rapidly to the growing need for a reduction in reflections on these screens. By offering our anti reflective coated film, we were able to reduce reflection to almost zero which led to improved user experience – on both sides of the screens.

At the same time, we also produced anti reflective face masks, which were taken up by medical teams and health services throughout the world.

Anti Reflective Coatings – Options

We offer a range of anti reflective options: either as a coating or film – We can apply our anti reflective coatings directly onto glass or plastic for you and also offer a anti reflective film lamination service.

Alternatively, you can buy our anti reflective film direct from our website, either on a roll or in sheets, with prices starting just over £11.00

If you need any further information or advice about our anti reflective coatings, or would like to discuss a specific requirement, please get in touch with us today.

It’s always nice to finish on a positive, so please enjoy two little known facts about anti reflective coatings below.

Anti Reflective Coatings – Fun Fact #1

(Maybe a stretch to call this one ‘Fun’ but…) The first type of anti reflective coating was discovered in 1886 by British Physicist Lord Rayleigh. Upon testing some old, tarnished glass pieces (chemical reactions between the environment and the optical glass of his time tended to cause surface tarnishing on glass as it aged), Lord Raleigh found that, to his surprise, these tarnished pieces transmitted more light than clean, new pieces. The tarnished glass exhibited less reflection than a clean air-glass interface.

Anti Reflective Coatings – Fun Fact #2

(OK, this is better…) Moth’s eyes are actually anti reflective. The eyes are covered with a nanostructured film, consisting of hexagonal bumps, which are smaller than the wavelength of visible light, which eliminate reflections. This means no prey will see the moth’s eyes reflecting in the dark and giving away the moths location. What is really quite cool about this is that man has mimicked the naturally occurring anti reflection moth eye technique – Canon use it for their SubWavelength structure coating to reduce lens flare.