Imaging with Diffractive Axicons Rapidly Milled on Sapphire by Femtosecond Laser Ablation
Date
2023
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Abstract
We show that single-pulse burst fabrication will produce a flatter and smoother profile of axicons milled on sapphire compared to pulse overlapped fabrication which results in a damaged and much rougher surface. The fabrication of large-area (sub-1 cm cross-section) micro-optical components in a short period of time (∼10 min) and with less processing steps is highly desirable and would be cost-effective. Our results were achieved with femtosecond laser fabrication technology which has revolutionized the field of advanced manufacturing. This study compares three configurations of axicons such as the conventional axicon, a photon sieve axicon (PSA) and a sparse PSA directly milled onto a sapphire substrate. Debris of redeposited amorphous sapphire were removed using isopropyl alcohol and potassium hydroxide. A spatially incoherent illumination was used to test the components for imaging applications. Non-linear reconstruction was used for cleaning noisy images generated by the axicons.
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Keywords
ablation, femtosecond lasers, diffractive optical elements, imaging, astronomy