Deep reactive ion etched anti-reflection coatings for sub-millimeter silicon optics

摘要

Refractive optical elements are widely used in millimeter and sub-millimeter (sub-mm) astronomical telescopes. High-resistivity silicon is an excellent material for dielectric lenses given its low loss tangent, high thermal conductivity, and high index of refraction. The high index of refraction of silicon causes a large Fresnel reflectance at the vacuum-silicon interface (up to 30%), which can be reduced with an anti-reflection (AR) coating. In this work, we report techniques for efficiently AR coating silicon at sub-mm wavelengths using deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) and bonding the coated silicon to another silicon optic. Silicon wafers of 100mmdiameter (1mmthick) were coated and bonded using the silicon direct bonding technique at high temperature (1100 degrees C). No glue is used in this process. Optical tests using a Fourier transform spectrometer show sub-percent reflections for a single-layer DRIE AR coating designed for use at 320 mu m on a single wafer. Cryogenic (10 K) measurements of a bonded pair of AR-coated wafers also reached sub-percent reflections. A prototype two-layer DRIE AR coating to reduce reflections and increase bandwidth is presented, and plans for extending this approach are discussed. (C) 2017 Optical Society of America