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

这个小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第一阶段项目的更广泛的商业影响是简化并显著降低光学元件制造成本。光学组件是包括成像、电信和激光系统在内的许多民用和军用系统的基本构件，其中众所周知的例子有反射镜、偏振器和透镜。目前的光学组件技术是一个价值数十亿美元的行业，基于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组件类别，具有在单层中生成多膜组件的功能，从而节省了时间和成本。该项目专注于长波红外光谱领域，在该领域，由于需要极端的薄膜厚度，传统的薄膜技术是不切实际的。长波领域涵盖了对地面成像、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。这一创新侧重于基于与子层折射率匹配的光栅的光学元件制造，从而避免局域化的粒子型共振。该属性赋予零部件对实际制造所必需的参数偏差的公差。新的物理是基于横向泄漏布洛赫模和伴随而来的晶格共振。它不同于经典薄膜光学中基于干涉的物理。因此，具有高水平光谱分集和控制的功能的新维度被引入支持许多具有社会价值的应用的光学元件领域。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。这项工作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)，在效率和带宽方面满足严格的规格。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势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.