Vol. 25, No. 15 | 24 Jul 2017 | OPTICS EXPRESS 17356 Fully transparent photon...

Sun, W., Y. Hu, D. G. Macdonnell, H. J. Kim, C. Weimer, and R. R. Baize (2017), Vol. 25, No. 15 | 24 Jul 2017 | OPTICS EXPRESS 17356 Fully transparent photon sieve, Optics Express, 25, 17356-17363.
Abstract: 

Regular photon sieve (PS) may only have up to ~25% transmission of light. The low transmission limits its applications in many fields such as satellite remote sensing when the reflected light incident on the PS is relatively weak. Binary PS was developed to overcome the low transmission problem of PS. However, binary PS which involves using different optical materials/thicknesses in different zones of the PS at a nanometer or micron scale, is not easy to manufacture. Therefore, in this study, we developed a fully transparent PS concept. We can use laser photolithography to simply make holes on a sheet of fully transparent material. With specifically designed optical thickness and PS-patterned pinholes, the transparent sheet can effectively focus light to its focal point. This concept is validated both by the finite-difference time domain (FDTD) modeling and by laboratory prototypes in this study.

Research Program: 
Radiation Science Program (RSP)