Silver coatings for optics greater than 2-meters in diameter are sought by NASA for future space telescope systems. In the Phase I research, Surface Optics Corporation (SOC) investigated several new coating systems for protecting silver. The new coating designs are derivations based on a patented coating design created at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). The new designs improve the coating's reflectance performance, particularly in the UV region, while maintaining stability in humid and/or corrosive environments. In addition, SOC devised and installed a new piece of coating equipment, which improves the ability to apply exceptionally thin protective layers, by better monitoring the shape of the evaporation plume.
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