Research on visible, infrared, and laser stealth performance of two composite structures

In modern warfare, reconnaissance technology poses a significant threat to targets on the battlefield. Composite structures of the thin film can achieve multiband compatible stealth to protect high-value targets. Previously, thin films for achieving compatible stealth of visible, laser, and infrared bands usually have a large number of total layers and suffer from uneven color rendering in the visible band and color being greatly affected by observation angles. In this paper, we proposed two new composite structures that could improve stealth performance in the visible band while taking into account the stealth effects of laser and infrared bands. The composite structure I is a layer of printing ink with dielectric/metal/dielectric (D/M/D) triple layer film. Composite structure II is a photonic crystal with a layer of printing ink. A single layer of printing ink in both structures acts as a color developer, which leads to a significant reduction in the total layers. The reflectance of the two structures was calculated to be 0.935 and 0.877 in the mid-infrared band and 0.958 and 0.955 in the far-infrared band. The spectral curves show that the two structures are uniform and stable in color and less affected by observation angles, and the reflectance is 0.108 and 0.083 at 1.06 μm at positive incidence. In summary, the two composite structures improve the stealth effect in the visible band while achieving compatible stealth.