The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI), currently under construction, will be used to measure the expansion history of the Universe using the Baryon Acoustic Oscillation technique. The spectra of 35 million galaxies and quasars over 14000 sq deg will be measured during the life of the experiment. A new prime focus corrector for the KPNO Mayall telescope will deliver light to 5000 fiber optic positioners. The fibers, in turn, feed ten broad-band spectrographs. We will describe the broadband AR coating (360 nm to 980nm) that was applied to the lenses of the camera system for DESI using ion assisted deposition techniques in a 3 m coating chamber. The camera has 6 lenses ranging in diameter from 0.8 m to 1.14 m, weighing from 84 kg to 237 kg and made from fused silica or BK7. The size and shape of the surfaces provided challenges in design, uniformity control, handling, tooling and process control. Single surface average transmission and minimum transmission met requirements. The varied optical surfaces and angle of incidence considerations meant the uniformity of the coating was of prime concern. The surface radius of curvature (ROC) for the 12 surfaces ranged from nearly flat to a ROC of 611 mm and a sag of 140 mm. One lens surface has an angle of incidence variation from normal incidence to 40°. Creating a design with a larger than required bandwidth to compensate for the non-uniformity and angle variation created the ability to reduce the required coating uniformity across the lens and a single design to be used for all common substrate surfaces. While a perfectly uniform coating is often the goal it is usually not practicable or cost effective for highly curved surfaces. The coating chamber geometry allowed multiple radial positions of the deposition sources as well as substrate height variability. Using these two variables we were able to avoid using any masking to achieve the uniformity required to meet radial and angle performance goals. Very broadband AR coatings usually have several very thin and optically important layers. The DESI coating design has layers approaching 3 nm in thickness. Having sensitive thin layers in the design meant controlling layer thickness and azimuthal variation were critical to manufacturing repeatability. Through use of strategically placed quartz crystal monitors combined with stable deposition plumes, the manufacturing variability was reduced to acceptable levels. Low deposition rates and higher rotation rates also provided some stability to azimuthal variation.
The Dichroic Beam Splitter (DBS) in the NIRCam instrument is required to have small reflected wavefront error and
high throughput in order for the instrument to view the images of first light in the Universe in the James Webb Space
Telescope (JWST). The operating temperature of the instrument is from 32 Kelvin to 39.5 Kelvin. We have performed
NIRCam prototype DBS (fabricated by JDS Uniphase) spectral and reflected wavefront error measurements at cryogenic
temperatures. We report the experiment and the results in this paper.
Design of experiment (DOE) methods were employed to optimally develop thin films with respect to optical absorption and mechanical stress performance. The goal of the experiment was to identify key deposition characteristics which would yield very low optical absorption and minimized film stress characteristics. A fractional factorial matrix was utilized for the preliminary portion of the experiment. Key deposition parameters with respect to low absorption and low film stress were identified as a result of the DOE effort. In addition, the interaction effects of each key deposition parameter with other key deposition parameters as a function of performance were identified. Details of the DOE setup, analysis, and evaluation are presented. Subsequent application of statistical process control methods to control these optimized critical parameters during production to ensure consistent, high quality production yields are discussed.
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