Design Optimization of Infrared Stealth Multilayer Synthesized in Roll Coating: A Theoretical and Experimental Study

The infrared stealth multilayers were synthesized by electron beam evaporation in roll coating mode on flexible substrate.The influence of the layer-number and thickness of laminated photonic crystal Ge/ZnS components on the reflectance of the infrared stealth multilayer was mathematically modeled,theoretically analyzed in Transfer Matrix Method(TMM) and experimentally evaluated.The average reflectance of the infrared stealth multilayer with 14 layers and optimized thicknesses of Ge/ZnS layers was estimated to be up to 90% in 3~5 μm and 8~14 μm bands.In addition,the effect of the lab-designed correction mask on the growth uniformity in roll-coating mode was theoretically and experimentally investigated.The results show that the uniformity correction mask makes the difference.The highly uniform mid-infrared and far-infrared stealth multilayers were fabricated by e-beam evaporation in roll coating mode under the optimized deposition conditions.