Coatings and filters
Anti-reflective (AR) coating
Optical glossaryCoatings and filters
Microscopic layers tuned so surface reflections cancel. More light through the lens, no bright rectangles over your eyes, no headlight starbursts.
- 1.50: 4.0%
- 1.56: 4.8%
- 1.60: 5.3%
- 1.67: 6.3%
- 1.74: 7.3%
Calculated from each index in CLIFF's range · light meeting a bare surface head-on
In more depth
Every bare lens surface reflects part of the light that meets it, and more as the index rises. An anti-reflective coating stacks several layers, each a fraction of a wavelength thick, so the light reflected from one boundary meets the light from the next out of step and largely cancels.
The light that is not reflected passes through instead. The wearer sees fewer ghost images of lights behind them and less glare from headlights at night; everyone else sees the wearer's eyes rather than a bright rectangle. The layers are applied in a vacuum chamber, on top of the hard coat.
Across the CLIFF index range
| Index | Reflection |
|---|---|
| 1.50 | 4.0% |
| 1.56 | 4.8% |
| 1.60 | 5.3% |
| 1.67 | 6.3% |
| 1.74 | 7.3% |
Curve depth is relative to a 1.50 lens of the same power, and reflection is for one bare, uncoated surface — both calculated from the index itself. Material and Abbe number are the material manufacturers' published figures, not CLIFF measurements.