INTEGRATED MANUFACTURING SYSTEM FOR DIFFRACTIVE OPTICS

RECENT ADVANCES IN DIFFRACTIVE (OR BINARY) OPTICS TECHNOLOGYDEMONSTRATE THAT DIFFRACTIVE OPTICS CAN PROVIDE REVOLUTIONARY SOLUTIONS THAT SUBSTANTIALLY INCREASE THE PERFORMANCE OF MANY OPTICAL SYSTEMS. SURFACE-RELIEF DIFFRACTIVE LENSES PROVIDE A NEW MEANS TO IMPROVE OPTICAL SYSTEM PERFORMANCE, WHETHER BY CORRECTING GEOMETRICAL ABERRATIONS, CHROMATIC ABERRATIONS, OR REDUCING THERMAL SENSITIVITY. SINCE PRECISION LENS SYSTEMS BASED ON DIFFRACTIVE OPTICS CAN CONSIST OF FEWER OPTICAL ELEMENTS THAN EQUIVALENT CONVENTIONAL SYSTEMS, THEY CAN BE LIGHTWEIGHT AND COST SIGNIFICANTLY LESS TO MANUFACTURE. SEVERAL METHODS ARE CURRENTLY BEING DEVELOPED FOR THE PRODUCTION OF SURFACE-RELIEF DIFFRACTIVE OPTICS INCLUDING SINGLE-POINT DIAMOND TURNING AND PHOTOLITHOGRAPHIC TECHNIQUES. BOTH OF THESE METHODS ARE CHARACTERIZED BY EXPENSIVE EQUIPMENT, LARGE NUMBERS OF PROCESSING STEPS, AND RELATIVELY LONG FABRICATION CYCLES. BECAUSE OF THE IMPORTANCE OF DIFFRACTIVE OPTICS IN PRESENT AND FUTURE COMMERCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL HARDWARE, EFFICIENT INTEGRATED MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS MUST BE CREATED. WE PROPOSE TO DEVELOP AN ADVANCED MANUFACTURING SYSTEM BASED ON A HIGH-PRECISION LASER WRITING MACHINE FOR THE DIRECT GENERATION OF ROTATIONALLY-SYMMETRIC DIFFRACTIVE OPTICS WITHCONTINUOUS PROFILES IN PHOTOPOLYMERS. THIS MACHINE WILL SERVE AS THE CORNERSTONE TO COMBINE ADVANCED COMPUTER-AIDED OPTICAL DESIGN AND AUTOMATED PROCESS CONTROL OF THE MANUFACTURING STATION. THE INTEGRATION OF OPTICAL DESIGN AND MANUFACTURING PROCESS CONTROL WILL REDUCE COST AND CYCLETIME OF HIGH-QUALITY DIFFRACTIVE OPTICS. SUCCESSFUL IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PROPOSED MANUFACTURING SYSTEM WILL OFFER A GREAT OPPORTUNITY FOR THE LONG-TERM COMMERCIALIZATION OF DIFFRACTIVE OPTICS.