Hybrid sol-gel planar optics for astronomy.
Hybrid sol-gel planar optics devices for astronomy are produced for the first time. This material system can operate from the visible (0.5 microm) up to the edge of astronomical J-band (1.4 microm). The design, fabrication and characterization results of a coaxial three beam combiner are given as an example. Fringe contrasts above 94% are obtained with a source with spectral bandwidth of 50 nm. These results demonstrate that hybrid sol-gel technology can produce devices with high quality, opening the possibility of rapid prototyping of new designs and concepts for astronomical applications.
Ghasempour
A
A
Leite
A M P
AM
Reynaud
F
F
Marques
P V S
PV
Garcia
P J V
PJ
Alexandre
D
D
Moreira
P J
PJ