Variator in OptiLayer

Variator allows to study how the design performance changes with variations of layer thicknesses and refractive indices of the design and surrounding media.

View –> Variator

Using sliders, [-] and [+] buttons, or numerical controls you can adjust the parameters of the design, substrate and incident medium and almost instantly see the effect of such change. The changes are applied to all other OptiLayer windows, therefore you can study multiple effects at once.

In the case of dispersive materials the variations are considered as offsets of the refractive index or extinction coefficient. In other words, a constant value controlled by the Variator is added to the refractive index spectral dependence.

Along with variations in spectral characteristics, you can observe changes in all other characteristics (colors, color rendering index, color patch, average and integral values, refractive index profile, admittance, electric field, etc.)

Example: we consider a 8-layer metal-dielectric coating (left panel) and study how variations in layer thicknesses of some layers and optical constants of metal-island layer affect spectral characteristics, color coordinates from 0 to 45 degrees as well as light and solar direct transmittance. 

Reflectance, transmittance and back side reflectance of the initial 8-layer metal dielectric design consisting of TiO₂ (H), SiO₂ (L) and Ag-SiO₂ metal-island film:

Color coordinates of reflectance and back side reflectance of the initial coating. The incidence angle is varying from 0 to 45 degrees, average polarization:

Variations of thicknesses of metal layer and the last H-layer and optical constants of metal layer:

Revert Back button allows to restore the initial parameters.

Save Modified Materials button is active if you applied any change to any of the materials. After the click OptiLayer creates copies of initial materials in Substrate and Layer Material databases. The names have [‘] as a suffix in order to distinguish them from the initial materials. Any new Save operation will update these modified files again.

 Effect on spectral characteristics:

Effect on color coordinates:

Variations of integral characteristics: