Method of making high performance optical edge and laser-line filters and resulting products

A method of manufacturing an optical filter, the filter comprising a substrate, a multi-cavity Fabry-Perot layer, and an extended blocking layer, wherein for the multi-cavity Fabry-Perot layer, the method comprises the steps of:

• calculating, with a data processor, a first theoretical transmission Ti of light through the multi-cavity Fabry-Perot layer;
• calculating, with the data processor, a first expected deposition time ti of the multi-cavity Fabry-Perot layer;
• measuring, during deposition of the multi-cavity Fabry-Perot layer for a period less than the first ti, a first measured transmission Tm of light through the multi-cavity Fabry-Perot layer;
• determining, with the data processor, when deposition of the multi-cavity Fabry-Perot layer is to terminate based upon the first theoretical transmission Ti and the first measured transmission Tm,
• wherein for the extended blocking layer, the method further comprises the steps of:
• calculating, with the data processor, a second theoretical transmission Ti of light through the extended blocking layer;
• calculating, with the data processor, a second expected deposition time ti of the extended blocking layer;
• measuring, during deposition of the extended blocking layer for a period less than the second ti, a second measured transmission Tm of light through the extended blocking layer;
• and
• determining, with the data processor, when deposition of the extended blocking layer is to terminate based upon the second theoretical transmission Ti and the second measured transmission Tm.

A method of making a laser-line filter using an apparatus, the filter designed to have N layers and the method comprising the steps of:

• calculating, with a data processor, theoretical transmission data for each layer;
• determining, with the data processor, which of the N layers are to be optically monitored, wherein at least one of the N layers determined to be optically monitored is a multi-cavity Fabry-Perot layer and at least one of the N layers determined not to be optically monitored is an extended blocking layer;
• calculating an expected deposition time for a current layer being deposited based upon a designed thickness of the layer and a deposition rate of the apparatus for the layer, the current layer being one of the N layers;
• measuring, during deposition of the current layer for a time less than the expected deposition time, measured transmission data for the current layer, if the current layer is determined to be an optically monitored layer;
• determining, with the data processor, when deposition of the current layer is to terminate based upon the theoretical transmission data and the measured transmission data, if the current layer is determined to be an optically monitored layer;
• and
• determining, with the data processor, when deposition of the current layer is to terminate based upon expiration of the expected deposition duration, if the current layer is not determined to be an optically monitored layer.