The History of Modern Ophthalmic Coatings
(Room Room 104-A)
02 May 19
12:50 PM
-
1:30 PM
Tracks:
Donald M. Mattox Tutorial
With optical aids for improving vision already existing during the reign of emperor Nero, the start of industrial manufactured spectacles can be dated back as early as the 13th century in Northern Italy. From then on until the 1950s, all spectacle developments were mainly based on mineral glass, partially tinted or mostly clear and without any coatings.
Absorbing layers of iron- and silicon monoxide to produce evenly dark tinted Rx and a single layer of Anti Reflective (AR) coating, (later succeeded with better multi coating (MC) layers), were introduced in the 1950s to 70s. Also, organic spectacle materials such as Columbia Resin no 39 (CR39) – the workhorse of the spectacle industry to this day – gained popularity.
With the growing possibilities of producing higher index but softer organic spectacle materials, a clear, hard (H) scratch resistant coating was produced in the 80s – applicable from liquid phase or as a basis for further AR coatings (HMC). After evolving into Broadband AR, now consisting of four or more layers, such coatings were transferred onto spectacle lenses to reduce unwanted reflections, creating the basis of all modern ophthalmic coatings on organic lenses. Meanwhile, the development of mineral coatings had stopped, as the market share of mineral glass lenses had shrunk into becoming a niche product.