Anti-reflection coating
Recubrimiento antirreflejante de fluoruro
- Date
- 1935 · confidence medium
- Place
- Jena, Thuringia, Germany
- Credited to
- Alexander Smakula (Zeiss)
- Field
- Communication
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A quarter-wave-thick fluoride layer, vacuum-deposited on glass, that cancels reflection by interference. It increases transmitted light and removes flare in lenses and spectacles.
Rayleigh (1886) and Taylor (1892) noted that tarnish reduces reflection; Smakula patented the evaporated layer in 1935, kept secret during the war; Cartwright and Turner achieved it in the US (1938-1939).
What it led to
- multicoated camera and binocular lenses
- anti-reflection spectacle lenses
- solar cells and low-loss laser optics