Laser Gold

Laser Gold is a process in which an electrochemically deposited gold layer is both 99.99% pure and exceeds 180 on the Knoop hardness test. This process was originally developed to increase the infrared reflective efficiency and durability of the pump-cavity reflector of an Nd-YAG laser. The coating when applied to an optically flat diamond-turned copper substrate is presently the IR "Standard Reference Material" supplied by NIST.
Laser Gold has 99% reflectivity at 10.6 µm and 97% reflectivity at 0.7 µm.
Laser Gold consistently achieves an emissivity of < 0.02 when applied to a polished substrate.
The Laser Gold method was used to plate mirrors and cooling components on the NIRCam and Miri instruments of the James Webb Space Telescope.
Laser Gold is the choice surface for IR light pipes because of its high reflectivity and inability to corrode in tough atmospheric conditions.

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