Diffractive optical structures and methods for manufacturing same
AssigneeRaytheon Company
InventorsJoseph Crifasi, John P. Schaefer
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Abstract
An diffractive optical element article and a method for manufacturing the diffractive optical element article is disclosed where the optical grating article includes a bulk material substrate having a bulk material surface and a Bulk Material (BM) index of refraction, an amorphous material film layer deposited onto the bulk material surface, the amorphous material film layer having a film thickness and an amorphous material film layer index of refraction and a plurality of diffractive optical elements machined into the amorphous material film layer, wherein each of the plurality of diffractive optical elements include a diffractive optical element thickness and a diffractive optical element profile.
Claims20
A diffractive optical element article, comprising:
- a bulk material substrate having a bulk material surface and a Bulk Material (BM) index of refraction;
- an amorphous material film layer deposited directly onto the bulk material surface, the amorphous material film layer having a film thickness and an amorphous material film layer index of refraction;
- and
- a plurality of diffractive optical elements machined into the amorphous material film layer, wherein each of the plurality of diffractive optical elements include a diffractive optical element thickness and a diffractive optical element profile.
A method for manufacturing a diffractive optical element article having a bulk material substrate, an amorphous material film layer and a plurality of diffractive optical elements machined into the amorphous material film layer, the method comprising:
- cutting the bulk material substrate to create a bulk material surface;
- depositing an amorphous material film layer constructed from an amorphous material directly onto the bulk material surface, wherein the amorphous material film layer is indexed matched to the bulk material substrate at desired wavelengths of operation and includes an amorphous material film layer thickness;
- and
- machining a plurality of diffractive optical elements into the amorphous material film layer, wherein the plurality of diffractive optical elements include a diffractive optical element spacing and a diffractive optical element thickness.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.