Paper
10 July 2018 Optimizing the efficiency of Fabry-Perot interferometers with silicon-substrate mirrors
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Abstract
We present the novel design of microfabricated, silicon-substrate based mirrors for use in cryogenic Fabry-Perot Interferometers (FPIs) for the mid-IR to sub-mm/mm wavelength regime. One side of the silicon substrate will have a double-layer metamaterial anti-reflection coating (ARC) anisotropically etched into it and the other side will be metalized with a re ective mesh pattern. The double-layer ARC ensures a re ectance of less than 1% at the surface substrate over the FPI bandwidth. This low reflectance is required to achieve broadband capability and to mitigate contaminating resonances from the silicon surface. Two silicon substrates with their metalized surfaces facing each other and held parallel with an adjustable separation will compose the FPI. To create an FPI with nearly uniform finesse over the FPI bandwidth, we use a combination of inductive and capacitive gold meshes evaporated onto the silicon substrate. We also consider the use of niobium as a superconducting reflective mesh for long wavelengths to eliminate ohmic losses at each reflection in the resonating cavity of the FPI and thereby increase overall transmission. We develop these silicon-substrate based FPIs for use in ground (e.g. CCAT-prime), air (e.g. HIRMES), and future space-based telescopes (e.g. the Origins Space Telescope concept). Such FPIs are well suited for spectroscopic imaging with the upcoming large IR/sub-mm/mm TES bolometer detector arrays. Here we present the fabrication and performance of multi-layer, plasma-etched, silicon metamaterial ARC, as well as models of the mirrors and FPIs.
© (2018) COPYRIGHT Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Nicholas F. Cothard, Mahiro Abe, Thomas Nikola, Gordon J. Stacey, German Cortes-Medellin, Patricio A. Gallardo, Brian J. Koopman, Michael D. Niemack, Stephen C. Parshley, Eve M. Vavagiakis, and Kenny Vetter "Optimizing the efficiency of Fabry-Perot interferometers with silicon-substrate mirrors", Proc. SPIE 10706, Advances in Optical and Mechanical Technologies for Telescopes and Instrumentation III, 107065B (10 July 2018); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2313483
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KEYWORDS
Silicon

Metals

Etching

Mirrors

Metamaterials

Gold

Reflectivity

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