Ion-plasma etched nano-structured surfaces for high performance transmissive and diffractive elements in imaging/spectroscopic instruments for astronomy

离子等离子体蚀刻纳米结构表面，用于天文学成像/光谱仪器中的高性能透射和衍射元件

• 批准号: 2107947
• 负责人: Hanshin Lee
• 金额: $ 30.99万
• 依托单位: University of Texas at Austin
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-09-01 至 2024-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2107947&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Ion; plasma; etched; nano; structured

Astronomy relies on detecting light from faint and distant objects in the Universe. To do this all light gathered by a telescope needs to be measured with highly efficient instruments that minimize losses of the light collected by the primary mirror. The investigators will build a new kind of diffraction grating and reflection-suppressing (anti-glare) optical lenses. The team will etch nanometer-scale structures by bombarding the glass surfaces with charged ions in a controlled way. This method has been shown to greatly improve the light-transmission efficiency of these optical devices. In combination, gratings and anti-glare lenses will increase the efficiency of current and future observing instruments. This program integrates and provides training opportunities for students in astronomy, instrument science, optical physics, and material engineering topics. There are potential applications of such devices in a broad range of electro-optical components and systems in other disciplines. This research project aims to advance a range of photonic and instrumentation tools that are crucial for astronomical spectroscopic research. This includes the introduction of highly deterministic reactive ion etching fabrication technologies for high aspect ratio, compact line-density, high-dispersion astronomical surface relief gratings, as well as, randomly textured nanoscale anti-reflective surface structures, and their combined use to push diffraction and transmission efficiency to theoretical limits. These gains will not only significantly enhance the capabilities of existing telescope and facilities, but also demonstrate the fabrication technology for diffraction gratings and transmissive optical elements needed in the next generation of astronomical instruments. When combined with Extremely Large Telescopes and their Adaptive Optics systems, these advances will make a significant improvement in total delivered throughput for a broad range of astronomical low/medium/high resolution spectroscopic instruments.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

天文学依赖于检测宇宙中微弱和遥远的物体的光。 为此，需要用高效的仪器来测量望远镜收集的所有光，以最大程度地减少主镜收集的光的损失。调查人员将建立一种新型的衍射光栅和反射抑制（反胶水）光镜。团队将以受控的方式用带电的离子轰击玻璃表面来蚀刻纳米尺度结构。已显示该方法可大大提高这些光学设备的光传输效率。结合使用，光栅和反闪光镜头将提高当前和将来的观察工具的效率。该计划为天文学，仪器科学，光学物理和材料工程主题的学生整合并提供培训机会。 此类设备在其他学科中的各种电流组件和系统中存在潜在的应用。该研究项目旨在推进一系列对于天文学光谱研究至关重要的光子和仪器工具。这包括引入高度确定性的反应离子蚀刻制造技术，以实现高纵横比，紧凑的线密度，高分散天文表面浮雕光栅以及随机纹理的纳米级反向反射表面结构以及它们的合并用来推动衍射效率和对理论限制的传播效率。这些收益不仅会显着增强现有望远镜和设施的功能，而且还展示了下一代天文仪器所需的衍射光栅和透射光学元素的制造技术。当与极大的望远镜及其自适应光学系统结合使用时，这些进步将显着改善总体传递的吞吐量，用于广泛的天文学低/中/高分辨率光谱仪器。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并认为通过基金会的知识优点和广泛的影响，通过评估值得通过评估来进行评估。