Design and manufacture of super-multilayer optical filters based on PARMS technology

• Published in: Advanced optical technologies Vol. 7; no. 1; pp. 49 - 55
• Main Authors: Lü, Shaobo, Wang, Ruisheng, Ma, Jing, Jiang, Chao, Mu, Jiali, Zhao, Shuaifeng, Yin, Xiaojun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin De Gruyter 25.04.2018; Walter de Gruyter GmbH
• Subjects: Aluminum oxide; Bandpass filters; Coating; Density; dual-band-pass filter; Monitoring; Multilayers; Niobium oxides; notch filter; Notch filters; OMS; Optical filters; PARMS; Silicon dioxide; Simulation; Tantalum; Tantalum oxides; Thickness; Transmittance; UV band-pass filter
• ISSN: 2192-8576; 2192-8584
• DOI: 10.1515/aot-2017-0075

Three multilayer interference optical filters, including a UV band-pass, a VIS dual-band-pass and a notch filter, were designed by using Ta , Nb , Al and SiO as high- and low-index materials. During the design of the coating process, a hybrid optical monitoring and RATE-controlled layer thickness control scheme was adopted. The coating process was simulated by using the optical monitoring system (OMS) Simulator, and the simulation result indicated that the layer thickness can be controlled within an error of less than ±0.1%. The three filters were manufactured on a plasma-assisted reactive magnetic sputtering (PARMS) coating machine. The measurements indicate that for the UV band-pass filter, the peak transmittance is higher than 95% and the blocking density is better than OD6 in the 300–1100 nm region, whereas for the dual-band-pass filter, the center wavelength positioning accuracy of the two passbands are less than ±2 nm, the peak transmittance is higher than 95% and blocking density is better than OD6 in the 300–950 nm region. Finally, for the notch filter, the minimum transmittance rates are >90% and >94% in the visible and near infrared, respectively, and the blocking density is better than OD5.5 at 808 nm.