Angle-of-incidence performance of random anti-reflection structures on curved surfaces

Area of Science:

• Optical Engineering
• Materials Science
• Surface Science

Background:

• Random anti-reflection structured surfaces (rARSS) achieve >99% transmittance on fused silica.
• Fabrication uses reactive-ion etching, creating textures without interference fringes.
• Inductively coupled reactive-ion plasma (ICP-RIE) is anisotropic, suitable for planar components.

Purpose of the Study:

• Evaluate rARSS performance on curved substrates like lenses.
• Optimize fabrication for enhanced anti-reflection (AR) effects on optical power elements.
• Quantify transmission improvements for plano-convex lenses.

Main Methods:

• Fabricated rARSS on fused silica plano-convex lenses using ICP-RIE.
• Optimized the process for the 500-1100 nm spectral range.
• Conducted optical transmission tests for TE/TM polarizations at 633 nm over a 70° field of view.

Main Results:

• rARSS lenses demonstrated high optical transmission.
• Performance was consistent across a wide 70° field of view.
• Optimization for ICP-RIE anisotropy was not necessary for curved substrates.

Conclusions:

• rARSS fabrication is viable for curved optical elements.
• The wide angle-of-incidence tolerance of rARSS simplifies fabrication for lenses.
• This technique can improve AR effects on optical power elements.