Advanced protection against environmental degradation of silver mirror stacks for space application

Protection of silver mirror stacks from environmental degradation before launching is crucial for space applications. Hereby, we report a comparative study the advanced protection telescopes provided by SiO2 and Al2O3 coatings in conditions accelerated aging sulfidation. The model stack samples were deposited cathodic magnetron sputtering on reference silica substrate optical applications surface-pretreated SiC substrate. Accelerated was performed dry more severe wet conditions. Optical micrographic observations, surface interface analysis Time-of Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) reflectivity measurements combined to comparatively effects degradation. results show lower kinetics protected alumina coating comparable test