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Completed TRL 4 (started at 3, targeting 4)
Highly spectral efficient broadband mirror coatings over the far-ultraviolet (FUV) through the near-infrared spectral range are required for the Habitable World Observatory (HWO) NASA flagship mission. A key limitation for coatings operating in this spectral range is FUV degradation due to the hygroscopic nature of materials utilized in coating designs. We aim to demonstrate improved environmental stability of aluminum (Al) coatings protected with a cryolite (sodium hexafluoroaluminate, Na3AlF6) and a lithium fluoride (LiF) dielectric layer.
The aluminum coating protected with a fluoride overcoat will most likely be utilized in the HWO as it exhibits high reflectance over the 90 nm to 3000 nm spectral range limited only at the short wavelengths by the transparency/bandgap cutoff of the fluoride overcoat. However, the hygroscopicity of these coatings has always been a concern as the Al+LiF coating has shown >15% FUV reflectance losses over prolonged exposure in a lab environment requiring the coating be kept in dry environment. Furthermore, cleaning these optics without affecting FUV spectral performance is near impossible as most organic solvents etch/dissolve LiF, and any residual water in solvents degrade these coatings.
The development of this technology is aligned with the National Academy of Sciences 2020 decadal assessment in Astronomy and Astrophysics which prioritized the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) mission concept as NASA’s next Flagship and noted the need for advancement of optical coating technology to achieve transformative astrophysical observations in the FUV along with high contrast imaging objectives at the UV to visible spectrum. This proposal aims to develop technology for instrumentation which will be used to enhance the ability for exoplanet identification and characterization.
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