Design and development of binary diffractive Germanium lens by thin film deposition

Abstract

The design and development of infrared (λ: [8]–[12] μm) binary diffractive germanium lens (BDGL) by two - steps thin film deposition (Physical vapor deposition (PVD) technique) is presented. The optical design of the required elements using the optical design code Zemax, the design of the 4 steps binary surface and its required metallic masks using the programming language Delphi, the procedures of fabrication, and the measurement of the resulting profile, were presented. The comparison between the refractive/diffractive lenses by measuring the minimum resolvable temperature difference (MRTD) shows the advantages of binary diffractive surface.