Fabrication of Nanostructures for Development of Diffractive Optics

Diffractive optical lenses are anticipated as revolutionary optical elements that provide high-resolution, lightweight, high-efficiency, high-contrast focusing optics for applications in astronomy, free-space optical communications, spectroscopy, defense and remote sensing. However, the reported transmission efficiency is low, and the fabrication of nanostructures is challenging for large diffractive optics. To overcome these issues, we have performed Monte Carlo Ray-Trace diffraction simulations and fabricated several types of diffractive lenses including photon sieves, Fresnel zone plates, and multi-level Fresnel zone plates using nanofabrication techniques. These lenses show a strong correlation with the simulated expectations for their performance in their transmitted intensity and resolution. The results represent a new step in high-resolution diffractive optics with high focusing efficiency suitable for widespread applications.