Editing Optical coating (section)

{{Short description|Material which alters light reflection or transmission on optics}}
[[File:Coating-Mirror-Lens.jpg|frame|right|Optically coated mirrors and lenses]]

An '''optical coating''' is one or more [[thin-film optics|thin layers]] of material deposited on an optical component such as a [[lens (optics)|lens]], [[prism (optics)|prism]] or [[mirror]], which alters the way in which the optic [[reflection (physics)|reflects]] and [[transmittance|transmits]] light. These coatings have become a key technology in the field of optics. One type of optical coating is an [[anti-reflective coating]], which reduces unwanted reflections from surfaces, and is commonly used on [[glasses|spectacle]] and [[camera lens]]es. Another type is the '''high-reflector coating''', which can be used to produce mirrors that reflect greater than 99.99% of the light that falls on them. More complex optical coatings exhibit high reflection over some range of [[wavelength]]s, and anti-reflection over another range, allowing the production of [[dichroism|dichroic]] [[dichroic filter|thin-film filters]].