TFStudio
TFStudio Blog
Thin-film coating tutorials
Worked examples for designing, optimizing, and analyzing optical coatings.
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All tutorials
Coating basics
Design a simple coating by hand, then check it in the software.
- 01 How to Design an Antireflection (AR) Coating: A Step-by-Step Guide Design a single-layer antireflection coating for glass, derive the quarter-wave conditions, and verify the result in TFStudio. 5 min read
- 02 Designing a Two-Layer V-Coat for 550 nm Design a two-layer V-coat on N-BK7 with SiO2 and ZrO2. 7 min read
- 03 Building a Quarter-Wave Dielectric Mirror Learn the basic HL-pair structure of a dielectric mirror and build one in TFStudio with Stack Formula. 3 min read
Optimization & synthesis
Merit functions, refinement, Needle, Gradual Evolution, and structural work.
- 01 Refining a Four-Layer Broadband AR Coating Set a 450–650 nm antireflection target and refine a four-layer MgF2, HfO2, and SiO2 coating on BK7. 5 min read
- 02 Synthesizing a Four-Line Multipassband Filter with Needle Carve a four-line transmission filter out of a single thick TiO2 layer using Needle, Design Cleaner, and a constrained SQP refinement. 10 min read
Analysis
Understand spectra, fields, phase, color, angle, and polarization.
- 01 What Angle and Polarization Do to an AR Coating A coating designed at normal incidence is rarely used there. See what tilt and polarization do to a broadband AR coating, and when it stops working. 5 min read
- 02 Predicting the Color of Coated Glass Turn a coating's spectrum into a CIE color. See why AR coated lenses have purple tint. 7 min read
- 03 Reading the Admittance Diagram What the admittance locus plots, why every dielectric layer draws a circle, and three coatings read off the diagram in TFStudio. 11 min read
Data exchange
Measured spectra, reports, and exchanging coating designs with other tools.