Creating Blazed Gratings for Freeform Mirror Surfaces

Spectrum Scientific proposes the fabrication of FUV blazed diffraction gratings using reactive ion beam etching (RIBE) on freeform surfaces. The primary advantage of this method over traditional techniques like ruling and holography is its ability to create high-efficiency, low-stray-light, gratings with a broad range of blaze wavelengths. This flexibility is crucial for various applications, especially in the support of NASA spaceborne instrumentation. By applying reactive ion beam etching to freeform surfaces, the technique has the potential to significantly reduce the number of optical components needed, leading to more compact and cost-effective systems. This is particularly relevant for small-scale space missions, such as those using CubeSat and SmallSat platforms, where payload weight is a crucial factor in launch costs. This work has the potential to revolutionize the design and manufacturing of diffraction gratings for space instrumentation, offering not only cost and weight savings but also the possibility of more versatile optical components. While the immediate focus is on aerospace applications, the impact of this technology could extend to other sectors, including life sciences, photonics, and telecommunications, where diffraction elements are critical for a wide range of applications. By using the successful Phase 1 RIE FUV Grating development as a launch point In Phase II SSI will: - Continue advancing the development of the reactive ion etching (RIE) process for FUV blazed grating fabrication. - Transition the technology for application on both planar and curved grating surfaces. - Address further development of the RIE process for grating fabrication on Freeform surfaces.

NASA systems require wide fields of view in small, lightweight packages. To enable this, complex surface functionalities, including diffractive optics and freeform mirrors must be employed. The development of reactive ion beam etched diffraction gratings on freeform surfaces will increase the efficiency and image quality of the NASA instruments. Traditionally, additional corrective optics are required to gain these improvements, but with the combination of the RIE technique and the freeform surface, the number of components, and consequently the mass of the system are decreased. The low weight of the system will have the greatest advantages for low-cost missions including SmallSat and CubeSat where the cost of the launch directly relates to the mass of the payload. Another advantage of the reactive ion beam etched process is the freedom to blaze at any angle and for any wavelength with low scatter. This enables the development of extreme ultraviolet instruments that were previously limited by the groove profiles of ruled and holographic gratings. The market for optical gratings is well established and Spectrum Scientific currently ships many of thousands of diffraction gratings annually to a variety of customers in the life science, spectroscopy telecommunication, photonics, aerospace, defense markets... Within these markets, higher performance and smaller form factors are market drivers and Spectrum Scientific is constantly looking at ways to meet these demands through innovative designs including freeform surfaces and novel fabrication techniques. The demand for freeform gratings with blaze wavelengths in the extreme ultraviolet to infrared range has been validated through an internal review of the markets, discussions with customers who have expressed an interest in this type of product or require the performance that a reactive ion beam etched freeform grating can deliver. There are only a small number of manufacturers of blazed holographic gratings globally, and Spectrum Scientific produces optically blazed gratings, using a proprietary blazing technique, which offers significant performance advantages compared to other manufacturers’ gratings including higher ultraviolet efficiency and orders of magnitude lower stray light making us unique in our capabilities. Extending Spectrum Scientific’s capabilities to produce highly efficient diffraction gratings for wavelengths in the extreme ultraviolet to infrared range through a reactive ion beam etching process would enable technological advancements for a wide array of instrumentation.

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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