Advanced weapon sighting systems fabricated with FemtoWrite and FemtoEtch processes

The Army has a need for better weapon sight reticles. Currently, weapon sight reticles are fabricated only on flat surfaces. These flat surfaces produce unwanted retro-reflections. Translume has developed several processes to micromachine glass using femtosecond lasers. We have shown that we can locally change the index of refraction of the glass, thus creating features that can guide, or diffract light propagating through the glass. We can create scattering features that block or diffract light. The intensity of the scattering can be controlled over a large dynamic range. In some glass of mixed compositions we can locally change the color of the glass. We can also ablate glass. We have also demonstrated that we can locally increase the glass susceptibility to various chemical etchants. These capabilities have been used to fabricate various optical elements. Using this demonstrated fabrication knowledge, we are proposing to develop, produce, and test a rugged advanced weapon sight, with a reticle fabricated in bulk glass and characterized by a significantly reduced retro-reflection signature. Our proposal is supported by numerous data collected by Translume over the last five years under numerous DoD programs, or with various commercial partners.