Design and fabrication of ultra-steep notch filters

We present the design and production approach of an ultra-steep notch filter. The notch filter that does not have thin layers is optimized utilizing the constrained optimization technique, and this is well suitable for accurate monitoring with the electron beam deposition technique. Single layer SiO(2) and Ta(2)O(5) films were deposited and carefully characterized in order to determine tooling factors and refractive indices wavelength dependencies accurately. We produced the ultra-steep notch filter with indirect monochromatic monitoring strategy and demonstrated the excellent correspondence to the theoretical spectral performance.