An antireflection surface with sub-wavelength structure has been successfully fabricated on a fused silica substrate. The fabricated antireflection structured surface consists of a microcone array of fused silica with a period shorter than the wavelengths of visible light. The microcone array is made by a reactive ion etching method using fluorocarbon plasma. A microdisk array of chromium thin film, formed by an electron-beam lithography and lift-off process, is used as the etching mask. Since an electric field induced near the substrate was focused on the edges of the metal disks, these disks gradually shrank. Consequently, a conical shape was formed. The fabricated cone array has a period of 250 nm and a height of 750 nm. Measured reflectivity of the antireflection structured surface is less than 0.5% in the wavelength range of 400–800 nm for normal incidence.
Blazed diffractive optical elements (DOEs) were studied for the violet wavelength by electron-beam lithography. By optimizing electron-beam writing parameters and electron-dose distributions, we fabricated eight kinds of grating (period A = 10-0.54 microgm) with excellent blazed structure. It has been demonstrated that the measured diffraction efficiency values agreed well with the rigorous theoretical ones. For the fine period of 0.54 microm, we confirmed a peak appearance of 75.6% (TE) experimentally. A wave aberration as small as approximately 0.01 lambda (rms) was obtained for the first-order diffracted wave from the fabricated DOEs. Blazed DOEs for the violet wavelength could be used as key devices in a high-density optical disk pickup of the next generation.
A conventional method to synthesize diffractive optical elements and computer-generated holograms (CGH's) with high diffraction efficiency relies on an increase of phase levels. To fabricate such a device, one should perform electron-beam (e-beam) lithography with multiple-dose exposures or multiple-step photolithography. Here we describe a one-step method, which is based on the effective medium theory, for the fabrication of a multilevel phase CGH. The phase modulations required in cells of a CGH are constructed by means of dividing these cells into fine (subwavelength) structures. The surface features of these fine structures control their corresponding indices, and their values can be calculated according to the effective medium theory. By proper selection of the fine structures, based on the requirements of the phase modulation of the cells, a CGH with multilevel phases is synthesized when a binary structure is relieved on the dielectric material. Then the CGH can be fabricated by direct e-beam lithography or one-step photolithography through an amplitude mask followed by an ion-etching treatment. The experimental results showed that the reconstructed wave field is in good agreement with that simulated by a computer, indicating the effectiveness of the proposed method.
For the application of bidirectional communication between a human activity monitoring system and a human using tactile sensation, a tactile MEMS device is developed. To obtain the displacement and provide energy to the human skin, a driving actuator and a displacement sensor are integrated. The tactile device is based on a cantilever with a lamination structure of polymer and Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 thin films. The characterization of the device showed that the sensor output agreed well with the tip displacement. For the touch experiment of the device, the frequency response demonstrates hardening-spring-like behavior. By using a piecewise linear system model, the behavior is analyzed. The experimental results and analytical model showed similar tendencies. These results indicate a potential application of the stiffness sensor of an object.
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