Self-Assembled Monolayer Based Methods for Fabrication of Diffractive Optical Elements

This SBIR Phase I project builds upon Digital Optics Corporation's experience in the design, fabrication and commercialization of diffractive and micro-optics and the experience of Dr. George Whitesides of Harvard University to provide an innovative approach to the fabrication of diffractive and micro-optical components using self-assembled monolayers (SAM's). The proposed approach makes use of SAM's for the inexpensive fabrication of submicron diffractive structures on both flat and curved surfaces. Many exciting and useful micro-optical elements exist that cannot be efficiently manufactured in production quantities with conventional methods, if they can be fabricated at all. The use of SAM-based methods will provide additional opportunities for cost-efficient fabrication of both existing and new types of micro-optics. This Phase I effort will demonstrate the application of SAM's to the fabrication of micro-optical elements. Both analytical and experimental work will be performed to verify the objectives of the proposed project.