Rapid Generation of Large Dimension Photon Sieve Designs

A photon sieve is a revolutionary optical instrument that provides high resolution imaging at a fraction of the weight of typical telescopes (areal density of 0.3 kg/m2 compared to 25 kg/m2 for the James Webb Space Telescope). The photon sieve is a variation of a Fresnel Zone Plate consisting of many small holes spread out in a ring-like pattern, which focuses light of a specific wavelength by diffraction. The team at NASA Langley Research Center has produced a variety of small photon sieves for testing. However, it is necessary to increase both the scale and rate of production, as a single sieve previously took multiple weeks to design and fabricate. This report details the different methods used in producing photon sieve designs in two file formats: CIF and DXF. The difference between these methods, and the two file formats were compared, to determine the most efficient design process. Finally, a step-by-step sieve design and fabrication process was described. The design files can be generated in both formats using an editing tool such as Microsoft Excel. However, an approach using a MATLAB program reduced the computing time of the designs and increased the ability of the user to generate large photon sieve designs. Although the CIF generation process was deemed the most efficient, the design techniques for both file types have been proven to generate complete photon sieves that can be used for scientific applications