Absorptance Calculations for a Multilayer Absorbing Stack: Application to Thin Film Photoconductor Assemblies.

A generalized matrix method is developed to calculate the absorptance of electromagnetic radiation in each layer of a multilayer absorbing stack. As an example, the method is used to obtain the optical properties of a conventional multilayer stack, when one layer of the stack is a thin-film photoconductor. Two models describing the photoconductor film are used for the calculations. In one model, the photoconductor is a homogeneous, specularly reflecting film across which phase coherence is preserved. In the other, the photoconductor is an absorbing film across which phase coherence is not preserved. The results indicate that complex optical properties can be expected from these stacks and that detailed calculations are necessary in the optical design of such multilayers.