We report an innovative approach for the fabrication of highly light transmissive, antireflective optical interfaces. This is possible due to the discovery that metallic nanoparticles may be used as a lithographic mask to etch nonstraightforward structures into fused silica, which results in a quasihexagonal pattern of hollow, pillar-like protuberances. The far reaching optical performance of these structures is demonstrated by reflection and transmission measurements at oblique angles of incidence over a broad spectral region ranging from deep-ultraviolet to infrared light.

Antireflective surfaces composed of biomimetic sub-wavelength structures that employ the 'moth eye principle' for reflectance reduction are highly desirable in many optical applications such as solar cells, photodetectors and laser optics. We report an efficient approach for the fabrication of antireflective surfaces based on a two-step process consisting of gold nanoparticle mask generation by micellar block copolymer nanolithography and a multi-step reactive ion etching process. Depending on the RIE process parameters nanostructured surfaces with tailored antireflective properties can easily be fabricated that show optimum performance for specific applications.

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