The Electrostatic Self-Assembly (ESA) technique possesses great advantages over traditional thin film fabrication methods, making it an excellent choice for a number of applications in the fields of linear and nonlinear optics, electronics, sensing and surface coatings. The feasibility of fabricating linear optical interference filters by ESA methods is demonstrated in this thesis work. Basic single-anion/single-cation ESA films are synthesized and their optical parameters -- refractive index and average thickness for individual bilayer -- are investigated to provide a basis for the in-depth design of optical filters. High performance dielectric stack filters and narrowband and wideband antireflection coatings are designed using TFCalc simulation software and are fabricated by ESA. Both bulk film sensitivity and layer sensitivity to manufacturing errors are provided. The significant agreement between simulation and experiment demonstrates the strong capability of ESA to precisely control the refractive index and produce excellent thin film filters. The performance of optical thin film filters is largely enhanced compared to the results of previous methods. The experiment results indicate that the ESA process may be used to fabricate optical filters and other optical structures that require precise index profile control. / Master of Science

Thin film optical filters are made by depositing thin films of optical materials on a substrate in such a way as to produce the required optical and mechanical properties. The Electrostatic Self Assembly (ESA) process is accomplished by the alternate adsorption of poly-anionic and poly-cationic molecules on progressive oppositely charged surfaces. This technique offers several advantages such as ease of fabrication, molecular level uniformity, stable multilayer synthesis and avoidance of the need for a vacuum environment. The ESA process offers an excellent choice for manufacturing optical thin film coatings due to its capability to incorporate multiple properties into films at the molecular level and its ability to be a fast and inexpensive process. The ESA process, as a method for manufacturing optical thin film filters has been investigated in detail in this thesis. A specific design was made and analyzed using TFCalc, a commercial thin film design software. Sensitivity analysis detailing the changes in filter response to errors in thickness and refractive index produced by the ESA process were done. These proved that with a high level of quality control, highly reliable and accurate optical thin films can be made by the ESA process. / Master of Science