Availability of ultraviolet optical thin film materials, especially high index refractory oxides that transmit down to deep ultraviolet (approx. 0.2 mum) is very much limited. The present article discusses some of the research optimization studies on gadolinium oxide (Gd2O3), a novel lanthanide sesquioxide material, for such challenging spectral requirements. Optical and topographical properties of single layer films have been studied using phase modulated spectroscopic ellipsometry, spectrophotometry and multimode atomic force microscopy. Films deposited at lower substrate temperatures have shown higher band gaps and higher substrate temperatures yielded higher refractive indices. Multilayer high reflection filters have been developed for ultraviolet laser wavelengths such as ArF (193 nm), KrCl (222 nm), KrF (248 nm) and Nd-Yag-III (355 nm), using this material at lower substrate temperature conditions and successfully tested for their performances. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.