Self-organized antireflective nanostructures on PMMA by ion etching

Stochastic, self-organized nanostructures are produced by a low-pressure plasma treatment on the polymer polymethylmetacrylate (PMMA). The phenomena obtained by plasma treatment (structure formation and antireflective effect) are investigated regarding surface modifications, structure growth, and chemical modifications. Optically, the structure acts like a gradient layer with decreasing effective refractive index towards air, which is suitable for antireflection of PMMA.