Combination of microstructures and optically functional coatings for solar control glazing

New developments in large-scale micro-structuring of surfaces offer a wide range of applications in glazings with solar-control and light-redirecting properties. In many cases, e.g. when using prism or compound parabolic concentrator (CPC) arrays, the geometry of these structures allows or requires single facets of the structure to be selectively coated with optical coatings. This facet-selective coating technique offers a way to further improve the optical performance. On one hand it is capable of reducing unwanted refractive and diffractive effects of the structure, on the other hand it offers the advantage of combining the static light-guiding abilities of structured surfaces with the possibility to control the properties of a glazing actively by using switchable coatings.