SBIR Phase I: Hybrid Fabrication of Very High Efficiency Gratings

该小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目旨在解决大型高效光栅作为天文，光谱和光学电信设备的基本组件的需求。拟议的研究计划的目标是开发一种混合制造工艺相结合的全息和优先化学蚀刻，以产生大面积衍射光栅的平面和曲面，表现出更高的效率比光栅与当前技术制造。这些光栅可用作天文仪器中的色散元件和滤光器，用作光通信泵浦激光器中的极窄带通滤光器，以及用作波分复用（WDM）设备中的复用器和解复用器。特别重要的是在凹面上产生大面积有效光栅的能力。这将使色散和聚焦功能联合收割机在空间望远镜上的同一光学元件内结合起来。使用当前一代技术（如刻划机、全息术和电子束掩模写入器）制作的衍射光栅可以在效率、成本和材料性能（如热稳定性和化学稳定性）方面得到极大的改善。由非放气材料制成的高效、大面积、平面或弯曲的衍射结构引起了天文学、光谱学、激光制造和光学通信领域的机构和公司的极大兴趣。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project proposes to address the need for large highly efficient gratings as essential components of astronomical, spectroscopic, and optical telecommunications equipment. The goal of the proposed research program is to develop a hybrid manufacturing process combining holography and preferential chemical etching to produce large area diffraction gratings on both planar and curved surfaces that exhibit higher efficiency than gratings manufactured with current techniques. These gratings can be used as dispersing elements and optical filters in astronomical instruments, as extremely narrow band pass filters in pump lasers for optical telecommunications, and as multiplexers and de-multiplexers for wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) equipment. Of particular significance will be the ability to produce large area efficient gratings on concave surfaces. This will allow dispersion and focusing functions to combine within the same optical element on space-based telescopes.Diffraction gratings produced using current generation techniques such as ruling engines, holography, and E-beam mask writers can be improved upon greatly in terms of efficiency, cost, and material performance (such as thermal and chemical stability). Highly efficient, large area, planar or curved, diffractive structures made of non out-gassing materials are of great interest to institutions and companies in the fields of astronomy, spectroscopy, laser manufacture, and optical telecommunications.