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Method of forming thin optical membranes

  • US 4,536,240 A
  • Filed: 02/22/1983
  • Issued: 08/20/1985
  • Est. Priority Date: 12/02/1981
  • Status: Expired due to Term
First Claim
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1. A method for reliably and reproducibly making an optical membrane capable of being edge-supported, and capable of being removed, substantially intact, from the rotatable surface on which said membrane is formed, and having a predetermined thickness in the range of about 0.5 about 10 micrometers, with a precision of plus or minus about 2%, edge-to-edge variations in said thickness of less than about 2% over a distance of at least about 2.5 centimeters, and a capacity to transmit an average of at least about 91% of incident light with less than about 2% combined absorption and diffraction losses of said incident light over a span of wavelengths of incident light in the range of about 260 to about 1,000 nanometers, said method comprising dispensing a polymer/solvent mixture onto a rotatable supporting surface;

  • spinning said rotatable surface under conditions sufficient to form said membrane from said polymer, said conditions being selected from the following;

    the viscosity of said polymer/solvent mixture, the rate of rotational acceleration of said rotatable supporting surface, and the final speed of rotation of said surface; and

    removing said optical membrane, after formation, from said rotatable surface.

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