Monolithic all-Silicon Flat lens for broadband LWIR Imaging

TL;DR

This paper presents a monolithic silicon flat lens for broadband LWIR imaging, achieving comparable optical performance to traditional lenses with significantly reduced weight and thickness.

Contribution

The authors designed, fabricated, and experimentally characterized a monolithic silicon diffractive lens operating over 8-14um LWIR spectrum, demonstrating its practical imaging capabilities.

Findings

Field of view of 46 degrees

Depth of focus greater than 7mm

Wavelength-averaged Strehl ratio of 0.46

Abstract

We designed, fabricated and characterized a flat multi-level diffractive lens (MDL) comprised of only silicon with diameter = 15.2mm, focal length of 19mm, and operating over the longwave infrared (LWIR) spectrum of 8um to 14um. We experimentally demonstrated field of view of 46deg, depth of focus >7mm and wavelength-averaged Strehl ratio of 0.46. All these metrics were comparable to those of a conventional refractive lens. The active device thickness is only 8um and its weight (including the silicon substrate) is less than 0.2g.