Raytheon Company

Hughes Aircraft Company

Christopher D Taylor

Michael R Borden

Herbert C Bitting

Stuart H Klapper

Jeanette Lurier

A mirror includes a mirror body with a reflective coating on at least one mirror surface. The mirror body is formed of a plastic into which a filler is mixed. The mirror body is preferably formed by injection molding of a mixture of the plastic and the solid filler. The mirror is used in optical imaging applications such as an infrared optical system.

Filled plastic mirrors and low-cost infrared optics system

A mirror having improved resistance to heat distortion and loss of dimensional stability when exposed to heat radiation . The mirror has a substrate of glass or plastic having front and back surfaces which can be of similar or different shape , and is coated with similar or dissimilar low-emissivity reflected layers on both surfaces. Radiation is reflected by the back surface (away from the mirror) thereby reducing amount of energy which is absorbed at the back surface of the mirror. This equalizes the temperature through the mirror and reduces thermally included warping of the mirror.

Plastic mirrors having enhanced thermal stability

Low-cost composite infrared windows that are transparent to long wave infrared radiation (8-12 microns) that provide sufficient strength and impact resistance for automotive-type environments, and the like. The windows may be used with night vision systems for automobiles, surveillance imaging systems, and other applications requiring low cost, long wave infrared windows. In one embodiment, the composite infrared window is a sandwich comprised of a polyethylene plastic film bonded with an acrylic adhesive to a relatively thin (0.015-0.040 inch) silicon substrate. The thin silicon substrate is mechanically stiff and low cost, and transmits in the 8-12 micron bandpass. The thin (0.001-0.007 inch) plastic film provides an exterior particle impact absorbing layer sufficient to enable the use of the window in automotive applications. In another embodiment, the infrared window is a dual pane, long wave infrared transmitting window comprising a thin, antireflection coated, silicon window and a plain or reinforced, embossed, plastic window that may be mounted in a frame.

Composite infrared windows using silicon and plastic

Production of precision reflective mirror surfaces on low cost, lightweight molded plastic substrates (10). The process involves making a master pattern (12) having a precision machined contoured surface (13) corresponding to the precision mirror surface desired on the plastic substrate. A release layer (14) and a reflective layer (17) are applied to the master pattern and then transferred to the molded plastic substrate (10), with a curable replication layer (18) therebetween preferably comprising a filler-reinforced polymer composition which is compatible with the polymeric substrate and has a low coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) which closely matches the CTE of the substrate. The replication layer (20) is cured to replicate the precision of the surface (13) of the master pattern (12), which can be reused to produce a multiplicity of high precision molded plastic mirrors (21). In order to achieve improved accuracy and lower cost, the molded substrate tooling is adjusted (corrected) to account for differences in dimensions and/or surface contour. This more accurate substrate allows for a thinner replication layer which is less sensitive to error during curing and when the part is subjected to environmental conditions such as temperature variation. In the preferred case superior accuracy is achieved by the combined replication and correction process.

Process and apparatus for producing contoured molded mirrors with

A composite LWIR-transmitting window (10) comprising a thin sheet of LWIR-transmitting plastic film (11) reinforced by integration with an open mesh screen (12) of fine, thin or flat metal or fibrous filaments (14, 15). The preferred plastic film is polyethylene having a maximum thickness of about 0.03', most preferably less than about 0.02'. The screen (12) comprises filaments such as woven wires or fibers or formed structures of thin metal, such as flat wires of honeycomb-type meshes which are thicker in the direction perpendicular to the plastic film to maximize reinforcement while minimizing blockage of LWIR through the open mesh areas (13).

Growing community of inventors

Redondo Beach, CA, United States of America

Christopher D Taylor