Structure And Related Properties Of Thin Film Optical Coatings

Abstract

In this review paper, we provide a survey of nucleation and growth models for thin films. Centered on a simplistic computer simulation of random ballistic agglomeration of molecules represented as two dimensional hard-disks, which is valid for the limit case of very low surface mobility or of no surface mobility at all, we explain various properties of thin film optical coatings, notably their sometimes unstable behaviour.