Abstract: The UV blocking coating includes at least eight alternating layers of a first dielectric material and a second dielectric material stacked upon the surface of an optical substrate to thereby form windows, windscreens, lenses or the like. The first dielectric material has a higher index of refraction then the second dielectric material. For example, the first dielectric material can be TiO.sub.2, ZrO.sub.2 and Ta.sub.2 O.sub.5 and the second dielectric material can be MgF.sub.2 or SiO.sub.2. In addition, each layer of the second dielectric material has an optical thickness which is greater than the optical thickness of the underlying layer of the first dielectric material upon which the layer of the second dielectric material is stacked. As a result of the unique construction of the UV blocking coating, the reflectance of the UV blocking coating varies dramatically upon exposure to UV light on the one hand and to visible light on the other hand.

Abstract: A color selective, anti-reflective optical coating has a substrate (42), a first layer (44) and a second layer (46). The first layer (44) has an index of refraction that is 25% to 39% greater than an index of refraction of the substrate (42). The first layer (44) has a width of between 12.31 nanometers and 13.41 nanometers. The second layer (46) has an index of refraction that is between 1% and 17.5% less than the index of refraction of the substrate (42). The second layer (46) has a width between 118.32 nanometers and 130.78 nanometers. When the color selective, anti-reflective optical coating is applied to a head lamp lens (40), it significantly increases the output of the head lamp (20) and has a distinctive tint.

Abstract: The graded dielectric combiner, such as for a dual heads up display (HUD) combiner, is fabricated by depositing a predetermined number of dielectric layers upon a substrate and by thereafter selectively removing at least some of the dielectric layers from a graded portion of the dielectric combiner. As a result, the number of dielectric layers disposed upon the substrate will vary across the graded portion of the combiner. More specifically, the graded portion of the combiner may include a number of bands. A predetermined percentage of each band includes the predetermined number of dielectric layers, while the remainder of each band includes less than the predetermined number of dielectric layers. Since the dielectric layers are deposited in a conventional fashion, however, the thickness of each remaining dielectric layer will be uniform across the substrate.