High-quality single crystal diamond diffraction gratings fabricated by crystallographic etching.

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Optics
• Nanotechnology

Background:

• Diffraction gratings are essential optical components.
• Fabricating high-quality gratings from single crystal diamond presents challenges.
• Existing methods may limit performance and scalability.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a novel method for fabricating single crystal diamond diffraction gratings.
• To demonstrate the high quality and manufacturability of these diamond gratings.
• To enable the production of advanced diffractive optical components.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing crystallographic etching on commercially available <100> diamond plates.
• Fabricating both V-groove and rectangular grating structures.
• Characterizing grating geometry and surface roughness using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM).

Main Results:

• Achieved precise grating angles of 57° and 87° based on crystal orientation.
• Demonstrated mean sidewall roughness below R_a = 5 nm.
• Optical characterization showed good agreement between fabricated gratings and simulations.

Conclusions:

• The novel crystallographic etching method enables high-quality single crystal diamond diffraction gratings.
• This technique offers improved quality and manufacturability over existing devices.
• Paves the way for advanced diamond diffractive optical components.