Advanced metamaterial-based structures for optical applications in the Far Ultraviolet

This proposal will address the need of alternative materials that will enable new and more efficient optical designs in the Far Ultraviolet (FUV) optical spectrum. In particular, we will be seeking to improve the performance of FUV reflective and refractive optical components that are hampered by the optical properties of the very limited pallet of materials with appropriate impedance contrast and loss in the FUV spectral range. This said, the available candidates with interesting physical properties can have environmental or stability issues. Hence, the predicted performance cannot be often realized. For example, FUV high-reflecting thin-film materials are metals that require protective coatings to prevent oxidation (Al) or are unstable (Mg), and some of the transparent metal-fluoride dielectrics are hygroscopic (LiF) or hydrophilic (AlF3), all exacerbating efficiency loss and low device yield. To overcome the limitation of material availability, we propose to develop metamaterials (MMs) based on MgF2, which is one of the very few stable and transparent fluorides in the FUV, with engineered optical properties. Metamaterials are patterned materials whose nanostructured period is shorter than the target wavelength, and whose geometries are tailored to synthesize the optical index of interest, which is not found in nature as bulk media. The innovative element of this proposal would be to exploit the effective optical properties of MgF2-based MMs instead of traditional homogeneous thin film layers to develop efficient, compact, and wavelength-tunable FUV optics with potentially unprecedented performance for future UV-sensitive space telescope applications. This research represents a foothold for the use of MMs in the FUV through a collaboration between the Coatings Lab in the Optics Branch (Code 551) at the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) and the Nanoscience Institute at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), which has decades of expertise in nanofabrication and characterization of nanostructures using E-beam lithography. The realization of these fluoride-based MMs will be a breakthrough that will also enable the development of revolutionary instrumentation in the FUV range. This research opens a pathway for the development of new optics that were not previously available as it will overcome the critical limited choice of materials to be used in optical designs necessary to enable new groundbreaking mission designs, particularly for Astrophysics instrumentation in the ultraviolet. We plan to demonstrate FUV meta-surfaces with the following properties: • very low refractive index along with low absorption (suitable for antireflection surfaces and protective layers for natural reflectors, such as Al), • very low refractive index along with tunable high absorption bands (suitable for high-performance narrowband reflectors and notch filters), • high refractive index along with high absorption (suitable for wire grid polarizers and beam splitters).

The Astrophysics Research and Analysis program (APRA) supports suborbital and suborbital-class investigations, development of detectors and supporting technology, laboratory astrophysics, and limited ground-based observing. Basic research proposals in these areas are solicited for investigations that are relevant to NASA's programs in astronomy and astrophysics, including the entire range of photons, gravitational waves, and particle astrophysics. The emphasis of this solicitation is on technologies and investigations that advance NASA astrophysics missions and goals.

This is a mature technology (TRL 7+) — the realistic path in is usually NASA's Technology Transfer Program: licensing an existing NASA patent, or a Space Act Agreement to use NASA facilities/expertise directly. NASA also runs a startup licensing program with no upfront fee for companies formed to commercialize a specific NASA technology.

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