Sculptured Thin Films

Book excerpt: Sculptured thin films (STFs) are a class of nanoengineered materials with properties that can be designed and realized in a controllable manner using physical vapor deposition. This text, presented as a course at the SPIE Optical Science and Technology Symposium, couples detailed knowledge of thin-film morphology with the optical response characteristics of STF devices. An accompanying CD contains Mathematica programs for use with the presented formalisms. Thus, readers will learn to design and engineer STF materials and devices for future applications, particularly with optical applications. Graduate students in optics and practicing optical engineers will find the text valuable, as well as those interested in emerging nanotechnologies for optical devices.