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

天文学依赖于探测宇宙中微弱和遥远物体发出的光。要做到这一点，望远镜收集的所有光都需要用高效的仪器来测量，以尽量减少主镜收集的光的损失。研究人员将构建一种新型的衍射光栅和反射抑制（防眩）光学透镜。该团队将以可控的方式用带电离子轰击玻璃表面，从而蚀刻纳米级结构。这种方法已被证明大大提高了这些光学器件的透光效率。光栅和防眩光透镜的结合将提高当前和未来观测仪器的效率。该课程为学生提供了天文学、仪器科学、光学物理和材料工程等方面的培训机会。这种器件在其他学科的广泛的光电元件和系统中有潜在的应用。该研究项目旨在推进一系列对天文光谱研究至关重要的光子和仪器工具。这包括引入高纵横比、紧凑线密度、高色散天文表面浮雕光栅的高确定性反应离子蚀刻制造技术，以及随机纹理纳米级抗反射表面结构，以及它们的结合使用，将衍射和透射效率推向理论极限。这些成果不仅将大大提高现有望远镜和设施的能力，而且还将展示下一代天文仪器所需的衍射光栅和透射光学元件的制造技术。当与超大望远镜及其自适应光学系统相结合时，这些进步将显著提高各种天文低/中/高分辨率光谱仪器的总交付吞吐量。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，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。

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.