Rapid EBL Patterning for Customized Reflection Gratings

Spectra are essential for decoding the “physics” of astrophysics, giving insight into the composition, kinematics, structure, and energy budgets of astronomical sources. Diffraction gratings provide a means of making high performance spectrographs across three orders of magnitude in wavelength (near-IR to soft X-ray), making them a backbone technology for astrophysics. Customized gratings can improve the performance of spectrometer instruments intended for large missions – such as two-element spectrometers or chirped grating designs for Lynx – along with enabling innovative spectrometer designs for space-constrained platforms such as CubeSats/SmallSats. Technology development efforts in X-ray reflection gratings over the past decade have shown increasingly sophisticated control of manufacturable patterns, from radially-ruled grooves for X-ray telescopes, to high-efficiency, large-format gratings, to custom blaze angles sculpted directly in resist. Electron-beam lithography (EBL) is the key technology for these prior efforts. EBL offers incredible flexibility in patterning: non-contiguous variable periods, curved grooves, and patterning on curved surfaces are all possible with EBL. A drawback of EBL, however, is the time needed to write complex, dense patterns. Patterning astronomical gratings with EBL often requires a week or more, driving cost and schedule in a mission setting. This drawback is addressed by a new EBL method called algorithmic patterning greatly reduces EBL writing time by generating the written pattern “on the fly” from a mathematically-defined prescription. By the conclusion of this two-year effort, we will install algorithmixx, an algorithmic patterning interface, on the University of Iowa’s Raith Voyager EBL tool and use it to write large-format astronomical gratings. We will quantify the gains in patterning speed, characterize the period error, and test algorithmically-written gratings for spectral resolution when incorporated into a prototype spectrometer system. This study is directly responsive to the technology needs of NASA’s Astrophysics Division, gives the proposer the needed resources to continue his program of innovative technology development, and positions him to lead flight projects featuring the gratings developed as a result of this and other NASA investments.

The goals of the Nancy Grace Roman Technology Fellowship (RTF) program in astrophysics are to provide early-career researchers the opportunity to develop the skills necessary to lead astrophysics flight instrument development projects, including suborbital investigations, in preparation to become Principal Investigators (PIs) of future NASA astrophysics missions; to develop innovative technologies for space astrophysics that have the potential to enable major scientific breakthroughs; and to foster new talents by putting early career instrument builders on a trajectory towards long-term positions.

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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