IP

Ion Plating (IP) uses ions to produce dense  layers, but in a different way than IAD.

LASEROPTIK works with Reactive Low Voltage Ion Plating (RLVIP) which results in extremely mechanically resistant coatings.

A low voltage electrical arc is ignited from a plasma source directly into the crucible, so the coating material is well ionized. This and the different potentials of the crucible and the calotte lead to high kinetic energy of the particles hitting the substrates. So the growing layer gets a density close to 100%. With this method very high refractive indices can be achieved.

The process gas is argon, for metal-oxides we use additional oxygen as reactive gas.

The coatings are extremely hard and do not react on changes in temperature or humidity but they have a high level of stress.