OPTICAL COMPONENTS HAVING HYBRID NANO-TEXTURED ANTI-REFLECTIVE COATINGS AND METHODS OF MANUFACTURE

1 . An optical component having a hybrid nano-textured anti-reflective coating, comprising:

at least one substrate having at least one substrate body defining at least one surface;

at least one layer applied to the at least one surface of the at least one substrate body; and

at least one nano-textured surface formed in the at least one layer applied to the at least one surface of the at least one substrate body.

2 . The optical component having a hybrid nano-textured anti-reflective coating of claim 1 wherein the at least one substrate is manufactured from a nonlinear optical material.

3 . The optical component having a hybrid nano-textured anti-reflective coating of claim 2 wherein the at least one substrate is manufactured from β-Barium borate.

4 . The optical component having a hybrid nano-textured anti-reflective coating of claim 2 wherein the at least one substrate is manufactured from at least one material selected from the group consisting of lithium triborate, cesium lithium borate, bismuth borate, potassium titanyl phosphate, potassium dihydrogen phosphate and deuterated potassium dihydrogen phosphate.

5 . The optical component having a hybrid nano-textured anti-reflective coating of claim 1 wherein the at least one substrate is manufactured from an anisotropic optical material.

6 . The optical component having a hybrid nano-textured anti-reflective coating of claim 1 manufactured from at least one material selected from the group consisting of yttrium aluminum garnet, lutetium aluminum garnet, calcium fluoride,

7 . The optical component having a hybrid nano-textured anti-reflective coating of claim 1 wherein the at least one layer applied to the at least one surface comprises a multilayer dielectric stack having alternating layers of materials having a high index of refraction and low index of refraction.

8 . The optical component having a hybrid nano-textured anti-reflective coating of claim 7 wherein at least one of the layers of high index of refraction materials is selected from the group consisting of TiO x , TiO 2 , Nb 2 O 3 , Ta 2 O 5 , HfO 2 , Sc 2 O 3 , Y 2 O 3 , Al 2 O 3 , and Gd 2 O 3 .

9 . The optical component having a hybrid nano-textured anti-reflective coating of claim 7 wherein at least one of the layers of low index of refraction materials is selected from the group consisting of SiO 2 , Mg F 2 , Al 2 O 3 , and AlF 3 .

10 . The optical component having a hybrid nano-textured anti-reflective coating of claim 7 wherein the at least one nano-textured surface is formed using a plasma etching process

11 . The optical component having a hybrid nano-textured anti-reflective coating of claim 7 wherein the optical component comprises a chirped mirror.

12 . An optical component having a hybrid nano-textured anti-reflective coating, comprising:

at least one substrate having at least one substrate body defining at least one surface;

at least one layer applied to the at least one surface of the at least one substrate body;

at least one nano-textured surface formed in the at least one layer applied to the at least one surface of the at least one substrate body; and

at least one processing layer applied to the at least one of the at least one substrate body and the at least one nano-textured surface.

13 . The optical component having a hybrid nano-textured anti-reflective coating of claim 12 wherein the at least one layer applied to the at least one surface comprises a multilayer dielectric stack having alternating layers of materials having a high index of refraction and low index of refraction.

14 . The optical component having a hybrid nano-textured anti-reflective coating of claim 13 wherein at least one of the layers of high index of refraction materials is selected from the group consisting of TiO x , TiO 2 , Nb 2 O 3 , Ta 2 O 5 , HfO 2 , Sc 2 O 3 , Y 2 O 3 , Al 2 O 3 , and Gd 2 O 3 .

15 . The optical component having a hybrid nano-textured anti-reflective coating of claim 13 wherein at least one of the layers of low index of refraction materials is selected from the group consisting of SiO 2 , Mg F 2 , Al 2 O 3 , and AlF 3 .

16 . The optical component having a hybrid nano-textured anti-reflective coating of claim 12 wherein the at least one nano-textured surface is formed using a plasma etching process

17 . The optical component having a hybrid nano-textured anti-reflective coating of claim 12 wherein the optical component comprises a chirped mirror.

18 . The optical component having a hybrid nano-textured anti-reflective coating of claim 12 wherein the at least one processing layer is manufactured from SiO 2 .

19 . The optical component having a hybrid nano-textured anti-reflective coating of claim 12 wherein the at least one processing layer is manufactured from a material selected from the group consisting of amorphous carbon (a-C, a-C;H), SiC, polymeric-like carbon (PLC), hydrogenated diamond-like carbon, and HfO 2 .

20 . A method of manufacturing an optical component having a broadband anti-reflective coating having a high damage thresholds comprising:

providing a substrate having at least one substrate body;

applying at least one layer to the at least one surface of the at least one substrate body; and

forming at least one nano-textured surface on the at least one layer applied to the at least one surface of the at least one substrate body.

21 . The method of claim 20 wherein the at least one layer is applied to the at least one substrate body using a vacuum deposition process.

22 . The method of claim 20 where the at least one layer is applied to the at least one substrate body using a sol-gel deposition process

23 . The method of claim 20 wherein the at least one nano-textured surface is formed using a plasma etching process.

24 . The method of claim 20 further comprising applying at least one supplemental substrate to the at least one substrate body.