SBIR Phase I: Beyond thin-film optics: Resonant grating-based optical component technology

该小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目的更广泛/商业影响是简化并显著降低光学元件制造成本。光学元件，如反射镜、偏振器和透镜等，是许多民用和军用系统（包括成像、电信和激光系统）的基本组成部分。目前的光学元件技术是一个价值数十亿美元的产业，并且基于在真空室中沉积的多层薄膜。所提出的创新实现了一种新的光学部件类别，其具有在单层中产生的多膜组件的功能，同时节省了时间和成本。该项目的重点是长波红外光谱领域，传统的薄膜技术是不切实际的，由于极端的薄膜厚度需要。长波域覆盖了对于地面成像、医疗和工业激光技术以及夜视系统至关重要的大气透明度区域。这项创新的重点是光学元件的制造是基于光栅的折射率匹配的子层，从而避免局部，粒子型共振。该属性赋予元件公差，以适应实际制造中必不可少的参数偏差。新的物理学是基于横向泄漏布洛赫模式和随之而来的晶格共振。它不同于经典薄膜光学中基于干涉的物理。因此，具有高水平的光谱多样性和控制的功能性的新维度被带入支持许多社会有价值的应用的光学组件竞技场。在第一阶段，将开发相关的制造工艺，以显示扩大到大规模生产的潜力。该项目提供了三种主要的高性能组件类型（反射器、滤光器和偏振器），它们在效率和带宽方面符合严格的规格。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader/commercial impact of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to simplify and significantly reduce the cost of optical component fabrication. Optical components, with well-known examples being mirrors, polarizers, and lenses, are essential building blocks in a host of civilian and military systems including imaging, telecommunications, and laser systems. Current optical component technology is a multi-billion-dollar industry and is based on multiple layers of films deposited in vacuum chambers. The proposed innovation realizes a new optical component class with the functionality of multi-film assemblies generated in a single layer with attendant savings in time and cost. The project focuses on the long-wave infrared spectral domain where traditional thin-film technology is impractical due to the extreme film thicknesses needed. The long-wave domain covers a region of atmospheric transparency essential for terrestrial imaging, medical and industrial laser technologies, and night-vision systems. This innovation focuses on optical component fabrication that is based on gratings that are index-matched to a sublayer thereby avoiding localized, particle-type resonances. This attribute imbues the components with tolerance to parametric deviations essential for practical manufacturing. The new physics is based on lateral leaky Bloch modes and attendant lattice resonance. It is different from the interference-based physics of classic thin-film optics. Therefore, a new dimension in functionality with high levels of spectral diversity and control is brought into the optical component arena supporting many societally valuable applications. In Phase I, relevant fabrication processes will be developed to show the potential for scale-up to mass production. The effort delivers three main high performance component types (reflectors, filters, and polarizers) that meet stringent specifications in terms of efficiency and bandwidth.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.