Abstract
SummaryOptical components used in normal ambient conditions are usually contaminated by hydrocarbons from the ambient air in the course of time. This contamination gives rise to a decrease in the particular optical performance, i.e. the reflectance of mirrors or the transmittance of lenses and windows. In order to address this issue, the impact of ageing at ambient conditions as well as subsequent plasma cleaning on relevant parameters of standard silver‐coated mirrors was investigated in this work. For plasma cleaning, a jet source based on a dielectric barrier discharge at atmospheric pressure was applied. It is shown that ageing leads to an adhesion of carbonaceous contaminations and an accompanying decrease in reflectance of the mirrors. The subsequent plasma cleaning process allows the efficient removal of surface‐adherent carbon and an alteration of remaining bonds. Finally, this effect gives rise to an increase in reflectance, nearly restoring the initial value before ageing.
Published Version
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