Enabling Novel Anti-Reflection Coatings for Millimeter and Submillimeter-Wave Astrophysics

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

The investigators will improve the performance of telescopes that study the large scale properties of the early Universe. For best performance such telescopes utilize optics made from alumina, sapphire, and silicon. The investigators seek to develop a new technique to modify the surfaces of such optics to increase the amount of light that can be utilized. The techniques developed will also allow the optics to operate over a larger range of temperatures. Such improvements will enable astronomers to collect light more efficiently and collect better scientific observations. . Successful development will lead to a technique that can then be industrialized on large scales.This work will involve the efforts of graduate student. An expansion of an outreach program that reaches tens of thousands of school-age kids and families annually is also planned.The search by cosmic microwave background (CMB) instruments to find the signatures of inflation, constrain the sum of neutrino masses, and trace the formation of cosmic structures requires ever larger throughput from the optical systems utilized. In response, optical designers are increasingly using optical elements made of alumina, silicon, and sapphire for higher throughput. This project aims to develop broad-band, cryogenically-robust, anti-reflection coating (ARC) for optical elements made of alumina, sapphire, and silicon using laser ablation of sub-wavelength structures (SWS). Maturing this technology will solve a technology bottleneck in millimeter and sub-millimeter astrophysics for CMB instruments. This resulting scalable and reproducible ARC fabrication approach, will be transferred to industrial partners. This will permit researchers to have purchasable, turn-key solutions for their ARC needs instead of solving the challenge anew with every project. The project looks to develop a prescription for the processing steps need to manufacture such ARCs that can be transferred to corporate entities.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.