Design of Multilayer Filters by Considering Two Effective Interfaces

Abstract

Any nonabsorbing multilayer system may be completely described by two effective interfaces. An analysis based on this representation is applied to deduce the properties of systems consisting of one or two half-wave layers surrounded by reflecting stacks. The salient features of the transmission characteristics are easily obtained. The conditions to be fulfilled in the design of band-pass filters of various band widths and of low-(frequency) pass filters are deduced. It is shown that double half-wave systems have theoretical advantages in band shape and peak transmission over single half-wave systems. This is confirmed experimentally.