Corrosion-resistant multilayer structures with improved reflectivity

1. A thin film structure, comprising:

a substrate;

a first corrosion barrier layer above the substrate;

a reflective layer above the first corrosion barrier layer, wherein the reflective layer comprises at least one repeating set of sub-layers, wherein one of the sub-layers of each set of sub-layers being of a corrodible material; and

a second corrosion barrier layer above the reflective layer.

2. The thin film structure as recited in claim 1 , wherein at least one of the corrosion barrier layers is primarily of aluminum.

3. The thin film structure as recited in claim 1 , wherein at least one of the corrosion barrier layers is primarily of a material selected from a group consisting of silicon oxide, sputtered carbon, and boron carbide.

4. The thin film structure as recited in claim 1 , further comprising a third corrosion barrier layer between at least two of the sets of sub-layers of the reflective layer.

5. The thin film structure as recited in claim 1 , further comprising a third corrosion barrier layer between each of the sets of sub-layers of the reflective layer.

6. The thin film structure as recited in claim 1 , wherein the second corrosion barrier layer is a cap layer of the thin film structure.

7. The thin film structure as recited in claim 1 , further comprising a cap layer above the second corrosion barrier layer.

8. The thin film structure as recited in claim 1 , wherein the second corrosion barrier layer is directly on the reflective layer, wherein the second corrosion barrier layer is an alloy of a corrosion barrier material and a material of an immediately underlying sub-layer of the reflective layer.

9. The thin film structure as recited in claim 8 , wherein the second corrosion barrier layer and the immediately underlying sub-layer of the reflective layer constitute an interdiffusion layer having no visible boundary between the second corrosion barrier layer and the immediately underlying sub-layer.

10. The thin film structure as recited in claim 8 , wherein the second corrosion barrier layer and the immediately underlying sub-layer of the reflective layer constitute an interdiffusion layer having a mostly amorphous character.

11. The thin film structure as recited in claim 8 , wherein the corrosion barrier material consists essentially of aluminum and the immediately underlying sub-layer of the reflective layer comprises magnesium.

12. The thin film structure as recited in claim 1 , each set of sub-layers includes at least three sub-layers.

13. A system, comprising an optical element having the thin film structure as recited in claim 1 ; and an image capture or spectrometer device.

14. The system as recited in claim 13 , wherein the optical element is selected from a group consisting of a mirror, a filter, a reflective grating, a diffractive grating, a diffractive lens, a beam splitter, a phase retardation device, and a pulse compression device.

15. A laser, comprising a light source and the thin film structure as recited in claim 1 .

16. A thin film structure, comprising:

a substrate;

a first corrosion barrier layer above the substrate;

a reflective layer above the first corrosion barrier layer, wherein the reflective layer comprises at least one repeating set of sub-layers, wherein one of the sub-layers of each set of sub-layers being primarily of magnesium; and

a second corrosion barrier layer above the reflective layer,

wherein at least one of the corrosion barrier layers primarily of a material selected from a group consisting of aluminum, silicon oxide, sputtered carbon, and boron carbide.

17. The thin film structure as recited in claim 16 , further comprising a third corrosion barrier layer between at least two of the sets of sub-layers of the reflective layer.

18. The thin film structure as recited in claim 16 , further comprising a third corrosion barrier layer between each of the sets of sub-layers of the reflective layer.

19. The thin film structure as recited in claim 16 , wherein the second corrosion barrier layer is a cap layer of the thin film structure.

20. The thin film structure as recited in claim 16 , further comprising a cap layer above the second corrosion barrier layer.

21. The thin film structure as recited in claim 16 , wherein the second corrosion barrier layer is directly on the reflective layer, wherein the second corrosion barrier layer is an alloy of a corrosion barrier material and a material of an immediately underlying sub-layer of the reflective layer.

22. The thin film structure as recited in claim 21 , wherein the second corrosion barrier layer and the immediately underlying sub-layer of the reflective layer constitute an interdiffusion layer having no visible boundary between the second corrosion barrier layer and the immediately underlying sub-layer.

23. The thin film structure as recited in claim 21 , wherein the corrosion barrier material consists essentially of aluminum and the immediately underlying sub-layer of the reflective layer comprises magnesium.

24. The thin film structure as recited in claim 21 , wherein the second corrosion barrier layer and the immediately underlying sub-layer of the reflective layer constitute an interdiffusion layer having a mostly amorphous character.

25. The thin film structure as recited in claim 16 , each set of sub-layers includes at least three sub-layers.

26. The thin film structure as recited in claim 16 , wherein the sub-layers of each set include a sub-layer comprising primarily silicon carbide.

27. A system, comprising an optical element having the thin film structure as recited in claim 16 ; and an image capture or spectrometer device.

28. The system as recited in claim 27 , wherein the optical element is selected from a group consisting of a mirror, a filter, a reflective grating, a diffractive grating, a diffractive lens, a beam splitter, a phase retardation device, and a pulse compression device.

29. A laser, comprising a light source and the thin film structure as recited in claim 16 .