Thorium free antireflection coating in MWIR region on Silicon optics

Most infrared transmitting optics have high refractive indices which in turn have high per surface reflection loss. So antireflection coating has very important role in increasing the transmission in the desired wavelength region. In this paper a study has been carried out on the design and fabrication of Thorium free antireflection coating effective for Silicon substrate in MWIR (3.6–4.9 μm) region. The wave band 3.6–4.9 μm is chosen for the reported work because the detected system used in MWIR region has a band selection filter effective in the same wavelength region. Comprehensive search method was used to design the multilayer stack on Silicon substrate. The coating materials used in the design were Germanium (Ge) and Silicon dioxide (SiO₂). The fabrication of coating was made in a coating plant fitted with Cryo pump system and Residual Gas Analyzer. The evaporation was carried out at high vacuum (2–6 × 10–6 mbar) using Electron Beam Gun and layer thicknesses were measured with crystal monitor. The result achieved for the antireflection coating was 96% average transmission in 3.6–4.9 μm band which withstood MIL-F-48616 environmental testing. This work provides an alternate antireflection coating on Silicon by replacing radioactive Thorium Fluoride, used as a coating material in most IR antireflection coating designs.     

Photoetching of spherical microlenses on glasses using a femtosecond laser

We fabricated spherical microlenses on optical glasses by femtosecond laser direct writing (FLDW) in ambient air. To achieve good appearances of the microlenses, a meridian-arcs scanning method was used after a selective multilayer removal process with spiral scanning paths. A positive spherical microlens with diameter of 48 μm and height of 13.2 μm was fabricated on the surface of the glass substrate. The optical performances of the microlens were also tested. Compared to the conventional laser direct writing (LDW) technique, this work could provide an effective method for precise shape-controlled fabrication of three-dimensional (3D) microstructures with curved surfaces on difficult-to-cut materials for practical applications.     

Multi-spectral antireflection coating on zinc sulphide simultaneously effective in visible,eye safe laser wave length and MWIR region

In recent years multi-spectral device is steadily growing popularity. Multi-spectral antireflection coating effective in visible region for sighting system, laser wavelength for ranging and MWIR region for thermal system can use common objective/receiver optics highly useful for state of art thermal instrumentation. In this paper, design and fabrication of antireflection coating simultaneously effective in visible region (450–650 nm), Eye safe laser wave length (1540 nm) and MWIR region (3.6–4.9 μm) has been reported. Comprehensive search method of design was used and the number of layers in the design was optimised with lowest evaluated merit function studied with respect to various layers. Finally eight-layer design stack was established using hafnium oxide as high index layer and silicon-di-oxide as low index coating material combination. The multilayer stack had been fabricated by using electron beam gun evaporation system in Symphony 9 vacuum coating unit. During layer deposition the substrate was irradiated with End-Hall ion gun. The evaporation was carried out in presence of oxygen and layer thicknesses were measured with crystal monitor. The result achieved for the antireflection coating was 85% average transmission from 450 to 650 nm in visible region, 95% transmission at 1540 nm and 96% average transmission from 3.6 to 4.9 μm in MWIR region.     

A novel CO2 gas analyzer based on IR absorption

Carbon dioxide (CO₂) gas analyzer can be widely used in many fields. A novel CO₂ gas analyzer based on infrared ray (IR) absorption is presented sufficiently in this paper. Applying Lambert–Beer Law, a novel space-double-beam optical structure is established successfully. The optical structure includes an IR source, a gas cell, a bandpass filter with a transmission wavelength at 4.26 μm, another bandpass filter with a transmission wavelength at 3.9 μm, and two IR detectors. Based on Redial Basic Function (RBF) artificial neural network, the measuring model of IR CO₂ analyzer is established with a high accuracy. A dynamic compensation filter is effectively designed to improve the dynamic characteristic of the IR CO₂ analyzer without gas pump. The IR CO₂ analyzer possesses the advantages of high accuracy and mechanical reliability with small volume, lightweight, and low-power consumption. Therefore, it can be used in such relevant fields as environmental protection, processing control, chemical analysis, medical diagnosis, and space environmental and control systems.     

锗基底7～11.5μm高性能红外宽带减反射膜的研究

为了提高锗基底的透过率和膜层的机械强度，对锗基底上高性能的红外宽带减反射膜的设计与制备工艺进行了研究。介绍了红外宽带减反射膜的膜料选择、膜系设计以及采用 离子束辅助沉积该膜系的过程。给出了用该方法制备的7～11.5μm波段宽带减反射膜的实测光谱曲线，其峰值透过率高达99.5％以上，在设计波段范围内平均透过率大于97.5％， 膜层附着性能好，光机性能稳定。这对于红外光学系统的应用具有十分重要的意义。     

用低压反应离子镀的方法制备Ge_(1-x)C_x单层非均匀增透膜的研究

用低压反应离子镀(RLVIP)的方法在Ge基底上制备了Ge1-xCx单层非均匀增透薄膜。随着沉积速率在0.05~0.4nm/s之间的变化,其折射率在2.31~3.42之间可变。实验结果表明,镀制的Ge1-xCx单层非均匀增透保护薄膜均为无定形结构,并实现了从2000~8000nm的宽波段增透。当沉积速率为0.1nm/s时,单面平均透过率从68.6%提高到了80.9%,比单面未镀膜时提高了17.9%。通过对薄膜的稳定性和牢固度进行测试表明,制备的Ge1-xCx单层非均匀增透薄膜具有良好的性能。     

Patterning of oxide-hardened gold black by photolithography and metal lift-off

A method to pattern infrared-absorbing gold black by conventional photolithography and lift-off is described. A photo-resist pattern is developed on a substrate by standard photolithography. Gold black is deposited over the whole by thermal evaporation in an inert gas at ∼1 Torr. SiO₂ is then deposited as a protection layer by electron beam evaporation. Lift-off proceeds by dissolving the photoresist in acetone. The resulting sub-millimeter size gold black patterns that remain on the substrate retain high infrared absorption out to ∼5 μm wavelength and exhibit good mechanical stability. This technique allows selective application of gold black coatings to the pixels of thermal infrared imaging array detectors.     

Design and fabrication of multi-layers infrared antireflection coating consisting of ZnS and Ge on ZnS substrate

We have designed, fabricated and characterized a multi-layers antireflection coating on multispectral ZnS substrate, suitable for the infrared range of 8–12 μm. The 4-layers coating (Ge/ZnS/Ge/ZnS) with optimized thicknesses was fabricated by PVD technique and studied by FTIR, nanoindentation and AFM. From FTIR spectroscopy it was found that, in the wavelength range of 8–12 μm, the average transmittance of the double-side coated sample increases by about 26% and its maximum reaches about 98%. To improve the mechanical hardness, a bilayer of Y₂O₃/carbon was deposited on the coating. Nanoindentation test shows that the coating enhances the mechanical properties. The final coating have successfully passed durability and environmental tests.     

Marine environment compatible antireflection coating with nanotop layer on silicon optics

Antireflection coating on silicon optics have crucial importance in thermal device working in 3.6–4.9 μm wavelength region. When the thermal device is used in marine environment, the optics face harsh saline weather condition compared to normal field environment. This deteriorates coated optics and to improve mechanical strength of the coating, a nanotop layer on the antireflection coating has been developed. In this paper a study has been carried out to improve marine environment compatibility by employing a nanolayer on the top of antireflection coating on silicon optics. Optimac synthesis method was used to design the multilayer stack on the substrate with germanium and IR-F625 as high/low refractive index respectively and the layer number was restricted to four layers. The top nanolayer was 60 ± 2 nm thick hafnium dioxide layer developed with ion assisted deposition (End–Hall) on the optics during coating process. The deposition of multilayer coating was carried out inside the coating plant fitted with cryo pump and residual gas analyzer. The evaporation was carried out at high vacuum (2–6 × 10⁻⁶ mbar) using electron beam gun and layer thicknesses were measured with crystal monitor. The average transmission achieved was 97% in the spectral band of 3.6–4.9 μm with a hardness of 9.7 GPa on the coated optics.     

Heat-insulation film with gold layer deposited on antireflection subwavelength-structured surface

The optical properties of gold layer deposited on antireflection subwavelength-structured surface are first exposed. The experimental results of the reflectances and transmittances for several different thicknesses of gold-deposited layers on the subwavelength structures are carried out. The nanostructured surface with spatial period and a diameter of about 230 nm and height of about 150 nm on polyethylene terphthalate (PET) film is fabricated by micro-replication process of UV imprinting. Comparing these with the bare gold-deposited layer and bare nanostructure, the results show that the optical films with the suitable gold layer deposited on antireflection subwavelength-structured surface has high transmittance and low glare in the visible spectral range and high reflectance in the infrared range. That is to say, when the antireflection subwavelength-structured surface is coated with a gold layer of several tens of nm thickness, it will have some unique optical characters.     

二氧化硅亚波长纳米微结构的增透特性

对亚波长纳米微结构-非紧密堆积多晶胶体晶体光学薄膜的增透特性进行了研究。采用浸渍-提拉法在玻璃表面组装了亚波长纳米微结构,并利用等效介质理论分析其光学性质,理论和实验符合。研究表明实验制备的纳米微结构具有优异的增透性质,通过控制组装条件可以控制膜层厚度实现高增透效率从可见光到近红外的有效调谐,且微结构在玻璃基底上的等效折射率接近1.22,透射率最大能提高约7%,达到99.8%的增透效果。     

High efficiency antireflection coating in MWIR region (3.6–4.9 μm) simultaneously effective for Germanium and Silicon optics

Antireflection coatings have critical importance in thermal imaging system working in MWIR region (3–5 μm) since optics of high refractive index materials are used. Germanium (Ge) and Silicon (Si) optics are used extensively in the MWIR thermal systems. In this paper a study has been carried out on the design and fabrication of multi-substrate antireflection coating effective for Germanium and Silicon optics in MWIR (3.6–4.9 μm) region. The wave band 3.6–4.9 μm is chosen for the reported work because detector system used in MWIR region has a band selection filter effective in the same wavelength region and atmospheric transmission window in MWIR region is effective in 3–5 μm spectral band. Comprehensive search method was used to design the multilayer stack on the substrate. The coating materials used in the design were Germanium (Ge), Hafnium oxide (HfO₂) and Y-Ba-Fluoride (IR-F625). The fabrication of coating was made in a coating plant fitted with Cryo pump system and residual gas analyzer (RGA). The evaporation was carried out at high vacuum (2–6 × 10^?6 mbar) with the help of electron beam gun system and layer thicknesses were measured with crystal monitor. The result achieved for the antireflection coating was 98.5% average transmission in 3.6–4.9 μm band for Germanium and Silicon optics. This work will be helpful in reducing the plant operation time, material and power consumption, as two different kinds of optics are simultaneously coated in a single coating cycle.     

10 Gbps optical soliton transmission link using in-line SOA on standard SMF at 1.3 μm

In this paper, 10 Gbps optical soliton transmission link using in-line semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs) for already installed standard single mode fibers (SMF) at 1.3 μm wavelength has been reported. The pattern effect and the impact of chirp on pulse propagation after amplification have been investigated. The observations are based on modeling and simulation optical soliton transmission link. Optical soliton pulse transmission over distances of the order of several hundreds of kilometers has been shown with and without initial chirp.     

Lanthanum,samarium, and dysprosium fluoride antireflection coatings for silicon photoelectric devices

An investigation was made of the wavelength dependences of light transmission through rare-earth fluoride films and of the effect of using these materials to produce antireflection surface coatings on silicon photoelectric converters. It was established that films of lanthanum, samarium, and dysprosium fluorides are highly transparent in the wavelength range 400–1100 nm and enable the optical reflection coefficient of a silicon surface to be reduced to 3.3–4.0%. It was shown that antireflection layers of these rare-earth fluorides increased the wavelength-resolved value of the short-circuit photoelectric current and the efficiency of a silicon photoelectric converter by more than 43%.State University, Samara. Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 4, pp. 7–10, April, 1994.     

Infrared transmissivity of heavily doped contact layers on extrinsic silicon IR-detectors

The infrared transmissivity of heavily dopedp-type contact layers on silicon was studied in the 3–5 μm and 8–14 μm wavelength range in order to optimise the layer thickness and doping concentration for antireflection coating. The transmissivity of surface layers and buried layers was computed taking into account the free carrier optical dispersion by the Drude theory and corrections due to intervalence band transitions as well as multiple reflections and interferences in the layer. The computations are in quantitative agreement with measurements on contact layers formed by multiple boron implantation. It was found that the free carrier absorption loss completely cancels the gain due to the antireflection effect for a surface layer. Transmissivities of around 73% may be obtained by a buried heavily doped layer.     

基于氧化物的0.8~1.7μm和3.7~4.8μm硬质宽带红外增透膜研制

从实际应用出发,在0°入射的条件下,在ZnS基底上针对0.8~1.7 μm和3.7~4.8 μm两个红外波段,设计并制备了双波段红外增透膜。论述了材料选择、膜系设计和制备方法,最终使用等离子辅助沉积技术在ZnS窗口上制备出双波段红外增透膜,透过率及环境测试结果表明：在0.8~1.7 μm波段双面平均透过率大于95%,在3.7~4.8 μm波段双面平均透过率大于96%。膜层结合牢固并有良好的耐摩擦性能。     

HfO2/SiO2双色膜在1 064 nm和532 nm激光辐照下的损伤特性

 采用电子束蒸发的方式,制备了有氧化硅内保护层和没有氧化硅内保护层的1 064 nm高透过、532 nm高反射的HfO₂/SiO₂双色膜,测量了它们的光学性能以及在基频和倍频激光辐照下的抗损伤性能。结果表明:氧化硅内保护层提高了双色膜在基频光辐照下的损伤阈值,对双色膜在倍频光辐照下的损伤阈值无明显影响。通过观察薄膜的损伤形貌,分析破斑的深度信息结合驻波场分布,对两类双色膜在基频光和倍频光下的损伤机制做了初步探讨。分析表明:氧化硅内保护层提高了膜基界面的抗损伤性能,从而提高了双色膜在基频光下的损伤阈值。     

Fabrication of broadband antireflection coatings using broadband optical monitoring mixed with time monitoring

Multi-layer optical coatings with complex spectrum requirements, such as multi-band pass filters, notch filters, and ultra-broadband antireflection coating, which usually contain very thin layers and sensitive layers, are difficult to be fabricated using a quartz crystal monitoring method or a single wavelength optical monitoring system(SWLOMS). In this paper, a broadband antireflection(AR) coating applied in the wavelength range from 800 nm to 1800 nm was designed and deposited by ion beam sputtering(IBS). Ta_2O_5 and Si O_2 were chosen as high and low refractive index coating materials,respectively. The optimized coating structure contains 9 non-quarter-wave(QW) layers totally with ultra-thin layers and sensitive layers in this coating stack. In order to obtain high transmittance, it is very important to realize the thickness accurate control on these thin layers and sensitive layers. A broadband optical monitoring mixed with time monitoring strategy was successfully used to control the layer thickness during the deposition process. At last, the measured transmittance of AR coating is quite close to the theoretical value. A 0.6% variation in short wavelength edge across the central 180 mm diameter is demonstrated. A spectrum shift of less than 0.5% for 2 continuous runs is also presented.     

减反膜的梯度化与激光损伤阈值之间的关系研究

光学减反膜是激光系统的重要组成部分，也是在激光照射下最容易发生损伤的部分，如何提高减反膜的激光损伤阈值是研究的热点之一。在保持目标透射光谱要求和膜系总光学厚度不变的前提下，研究了不同梯度化减反膜与激光损伤阈值之间的关系。首先采用混合渐变膜系设计方法设计了一种渐变减反膜系，G/H₁→H/L/A；其次通过渐变折射率分层等效方法将渐变减反膜系进行不同的梯度化，并利用PECVD技术，在K9玻璃上沉积了满足光学性能指标要求的不同渐变减反膜系(多层梯度渐变膜系和相应的坡度渐变膜系)；最后进行了激光损伤阈值(LIDT)测量。研究结果表明:在保持目标透射光谱要求和膜系总光学厚度不变的前提下，渐变减反膜系相比于传统减反膜系，抗激光损伤阈值有明显的提高；随着梯度化层数的增加，渐变减反膜系的激光损伤阈值呈减小的趋势；对于相同膜层的渐变折射率薄膜，采用坡度法制备的样片抗激光损伤阈值均优于采用梯度化制备的样片。     

Theoretical calculations of a square multilayer Bragg–Fresnel lens by quantum theory

A theoretical method based on the quantum scattering theory is presented to evaluate the performances of a two-dimensional (2-D) focusing square multilayer Bragg–Fresnel lens. The numerical application results of the square multilayer Bragg–Fresnel lens working at 0.7 nm wavelength (W/Si 25 periods with a double layer thickness of 5.38 nm, the size of the diffraction pattern is about 291×291 μm, the size of the center square in the diffraction pattern is 21.4×21.4 μm, and the size of the smallest square in the diffraction pattern is 0.39×0.39 μm) are given. Our theoretical results are compared with the experimental results of the linear Bragg–Fresnel lens reported by other researchers; an analysis and a discussion are carried out regarding the advantages of an optical system based on the 2-D focusing square multilayer Bragg–Fresnel lens, in contrast to a Kirkpatrick–Baez optical system on the basis of a two-linear Bragg–Fresnel lens.