Effect of Density and Surface Roughness on Optical Properties of Silicon Carbide Optical Components

The effect of density and surface roughness on the optical properties of silicon carbide optical components is investigated. The density is the major factor of the total reflectance while the surface roughness is the major factor of the diffuse reflectance. The specular reflectance of silicon carbide optical components can be improved by increasing the density and decreasing the surface roughness, in the form of reducing bulk absorption and surface-related scattering, respectively. The contribution of the surface roughness to the specular reflectance is much greater than that of the density. When the rms surface roughness decreases to 2.228 nm, the specular reflectance decreases to less than 0.7% accordingly.