Very nice - I love the 146/RJ series! Flew Birmingham to Dublin a few times on Aer Lingus 146's and loved it, although the flaps used to wobble about a bit on landing like they were going to break off!.
I actually work for the company that produces the windscreens. There are two types of film; Gold, and Indium (quite a rare metallic element that doesn't have many other uses).
The Gold is actually pure 24 carat, and is very fragile until it is laminated (sandwiched in between the inner and outer glass plies), the Indium is a bit more resilient. Both types of film are very thin and are measured in angstroms (ten-billionths of a metre). It is applied by a reactive sputtering process (Don't ask! But the atoms go on to the glass literally one by one!) It is done in a vacuum to maintain purity and to stay free from dust inclusions (which would fizzle and burn as soon as powered-up during the first test).
The Gold panels are the older type, what we call legacy panels, VC-10, BAC1-11, HS748 etc. All of the newer aircraft use the more resilient Indium film. We do the lot - all the Airbusses, B757/767 are the same, EH-101 and B747 are a bugger to get the film on as they are curved! Just working on a new lightweight panel for the 747-8 now.
The films can take very high currents - we can get the ice moving off a cold-chilled B767 (minus 50 degrees C) within twenty seconds, but that is what the pilot needs when going through that icy rain cloud on final approach! In service, and whilst active (not parked-up for the night), the panels are normally left on all the time and regulate at about 40 Celsius in the aircraft.
The Gold films look Gold/Brown in direct reflection, but they can have a slightly purple tint when viewed from an angle. They are very dark (light transmission of about 70 percent) compared to the Indium films. The Indium films can be any colour of the rainbow, but are mainly different shades of purple, red, green, blue, and yellow. They can also be slightly 'silver' in reflection for the really thin films (not many of these).
The 146 is also one of the few that has a very thin (colourless) anti-static drain film on the outer ply (to stop the engineer getting a shock when giving it a wipe!).
The Indium films are thinner and give their colour by the same method that an oily patch does on top of a water puddle - the thin film splits light into all of the colours of the rainbow or spectrum.
The windows are also toughened to a very high degree, and have a pressure seal layer made of vinyl to prevent blow-out if they have a bird strike. A typical specification being able to withstand/deflect the impact of a six pound bird at 250 knots.
Although the Films are made mainly of Gold and Indium, they do have other additives in small amounts that make them conduct electricity and pass light through better, but these have to be kept confidential as they are trade secrets. As they say - I could tell you but I would have to kill you, but that wouldn't be feasible as there are too many reading this forum and it would be too difficult to track you all down!
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