Glass Micro-Optics

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

9413013 Houde-Walter Funding for basic research is most compelling when it is connected to national needs. This proposal specifically addresses a fundamental issue in glass science (ion exchange) which is closely related to manufacture of medical instruments which are used in minimally invasive surgical procedures, resulting in shorter hospital stays, less trauma to the patient and significantly lower costs of treatment and recovery. Many other optical systems, such as those used in remote sensing for environmental monitoring and in distance sensing needed in intelligent automobiles, either use or are likely to use in the imminent future, ion-exchanged glass micro-optics. The scientific goal of this work is to better understand the relation between structure, composition and properties of commercially important glasses and to shorten the product development time of photonic components (gradient-index micro- optics) that are fabricated by ion exchange. Relevant structural chemistry parameters will be obtained by x-ray absorption spectroscopy and will serve as constraints on molecular dynamic modeling of the same glasses. Changes in the cation environment with composition and processing conditions will be investigated in the lab and related to transport behavior and the resultant index profiles. The transport properties will also be observed in computer experiments of ion exchange and the simulated effect of minority components on transport behavior will be used to guide the tailoring of glass compositions to particular gradient-index and micro-optic applications. The results will be incorporated in prototype lenses at Gradient Lens Corp., and a small high tech company in Rochester, NY, that manufactures micro-optics and gradient-index lenses. By the third year on the project we will have incorporated a large repertoire of diffusion parameters and models into a commercial lens design program and will have designed, toleranced, fabricated and tested the qual ity of an ion- exchanged gradient-index lens system. ***