Tuning of sculptured-thin-film spectral-hole filters by postdeposition etching

Abstract

Postdeposition chemical etching of spectral-hole filters, which were fabricated as chiral sculptured thin films with central 90-deg-twist defects, decreases the cross-sectional dimensions of the helical columns that such films comprise and blueshifts the spectral holes, thereby establishing the efficacy of postdeposition chemical etching as a means to tune the optical response characteristics of sculptured thin films.