Star Grazing with Alumina Grass: Antireflection coatings in the visible and near-infrared on IPX-Clear Microlenses assisted by Grass-like Alumina

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the successful application of grass-like alumina anti-reflective coatings on 2PP micro-optics made with IPX-Clear resin, significantly reducing reflections and enhancing optical transmission for astronomical use.

Contribution

First demonstration of alumina grass coatings on 2PP micro-optics with IPX-Clear resin, enabling improved anti-reflective performance in the visible to near-infrared range.

Findings

Alumina grass coatings reduce reflection to about 0.3% in 400-850 nm

Coatings are compatible with 2PP micro-optics fabrication

Potential for high-efficiency, custom-designed microlenses in astronomy

Abstract

Two-photon polymerization (2PP) enables fabrication of high-precision micro-optics with complex freeform geometries, opening a new parameter space for custom astronomical optics. Among available resins, the newly developed IPX Clear is particularly well suited for visible applications, offering high transmission across the visible-near-IR, low surface roughness, and excellent shape fidelity. However, Fresnel reflections at the air-polymer interface introduce significant optical losses, which are detrimental in low-signal astronomy. Previous studies show grass-like alumina coatings on glass and fused silica can raise average transmission from 91.9% to approximately 99% over 400-900 nm. Here we explore the feasibility of Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) to apply such coatings to IPX-Clear micro-optics over 400-1700 nm. Grass-like alumina anti-reflective (AR) coatings can approximate the ideal index condition by creating a gradual refractive-index transition from air to bulk IPX Clear, suppressing surface reflections. While grass-like coatings are established on bulk optics and conformal ALD films have been applied to 2PP micro-optics, we demonstrate - for the first time - alumina grass on 2PP microlenses made with the new IPX-Clear resin. We discuss key challenges and process steps, and observe that alumina-grass-coated microlenses lose only approximately 0.3% of photons to reflection in the 400-850 nm range. Future work will test performance across the full 400-1700 nm band and explore improved environmental resilience, e.g., a SiO2 overcoat. Combined with the high optical transparency of IPX Clear, these coatings enable custom-designed, highly efficient microlenses for astronomical applications.