When light strikes an oil film at an angle, some of the light is reflected from the top surface of the oil, and some is reflected from the bottom surface where it is in contact with the water. Because the light reflecting from the bottom travels a slightly longer path, some light wavelengths are reinforced by this delay, while others tend to be canceled, producing the colors seen.
Antireflection coatings.
Used to increase the throughput in an optical system.
Reduce ghosting and parasitic back reflections in an optical system.
Dichroic filters and mirrors
Dichroic filters have the advantage of reflecting unwanted light instead of absorbing the energy. Unlike plastic filters or gels, these coatings will not fade with time and can handle much higher temperatures (up to 300 °C).
By comparison, dichroic mirrors and dichroic reflectors tend to be characterized by the color(s) of light that they reflect, rather than the color(s) they pass.
Covert IR covers, blackout IR filters are used to block the emission of visible light. Used to avoid detection. Night vision equipment, including goggles, cameras and binoculars are needed to see the energy transmitted through these lenses. Generally, infrared filters will block the transmission of light energy below 850nm.
A hot mirror is a dichroic filter that reflects 90% of near infrared (NIR) and infrared (IR) light while transmitting up to 80% of the visible light. Hot mirrors transmit the shorter wavelengths and reflect the infrared energy.
A cold mirror is a dichroic filter that reflects up to 90% of the visible light spectrum while allowing transmission of infrared wavelengths IR and near IR of up to 80%. Cold mirrors reflect the shorter wavelengths and transmit the heat (infrared).
Structural coloration
The interaction of light with features to produce color rather than pigmentation
Peacock feathers
Morpho butterfly
"Structural Blue" Lexus
Iridescnce, opalescence, pearlescence
Colors that seem to change when seen from different angles.
mother of pearl — cystals of aragonite
color shifting ink
Scattering is a separate thing.
Chromoskedasic painting, chemigrams, faux-tographs, nano art. Chromoskedasic does not appear in any dictionary. Bryant W. Rossiter of the Eastman Kodak Research Laboratories coined the term "chromoskedasic" — color by light scattering (Mie scattering?). Silver particles that are roughly the same size scatter certain wavelengths of light and absorb others, producing a specific color. In chromoskedasic painting, the size of the particle is the variable through which color is controlled.
