Applications for optical coatings
Introduction Optical coatings provide an important function in vehicles and buildings. Optical coatings can be found in countless applications such as rain sensors, headlight lens systems, lighting reflectors, mirrors, motion detectors or camera systems (to name just a few) which have been adopted from other application specialities. However, optical coatings in automotive and architectural glass are unique applications with specific market characteristics. This chapter therefore focuses on the use of optical coatings on windows used in vehicles and buildings. Optical coatings are materials deposited on optical elements (i.e. lenses or mirrors) to change the way the element transmits or reflects light. One type of optical coating is an anti-reflective coating, which reduces unwanted reflections from the surface and is commonly used on spectacles and photographic lenses. Another type is a highly reflective coating, which can be used to produce mirrors that reflect more than 99.99% of