Temporally periodic physical vapor deposition (TP-PVD) is commonly used to fabricate Bragg mirrors on planar surfaces. These devices are notionally of infinite transverse extent and homogeneity, but they have periodically nonhomogeneous electromagnetic constitutions in the thickness direction. Undertaking TP-PVD in two different formats, we found that the Bragg phenomenon can be avoided in certain thin-film applications by undertaking TP-PVD on surfaces roughened randomly on the scale of the wavelength.