A metallic grating includes a substrate; a plurality of high aspect ratio trenches disposed in the substrate such that the high aspect ratio trenches are spaced apart from one another by a field surface of the substrate; a metallic superconformal filling formed and disposed in the high aspect ratio trenches; and a grating including a spatial arrangement of the high aspect ratio trenches that are filled with the metallic superconformal filling such that the metallic superconformal filling is void-free, and the high aspect ratio trenches are bottom-up filled with the metallic superconformal filling, wherein a height of the metallic superconformal filling is less than or equal to the height of the high aspect ratio trenches.

A manufacturing system performs a deposition of an etch-compatible film over a substrate. The etch-compatible film includes a first surface and a second surface opposite to the first surface. The manufacturing system performs a partial removal of the etch-compatible film to create a surface profile on the first surface with a plurality of depths relative to the substrate. The manufacturing system performs a deposition of a second material over the profile created in the etch-compatible film. The manufacturing system performs a planarization of the second material to obtain a plurality of etch heights of the second material in accordance with the plurality of depths in the profile created in the etch-compatible film. The manufacturing system performs a lithographic patterning of a photoresist deposited over the planarized second material to obtain the plurality of etch heights and one or more duty cycles in the second material.

A nanocomposite includes a plurality of nanoparticles, where each nanoparticle of the plurality of nanoparticles includes a TiO.sub.2 nanoparticle core characterized by a diameter between about 1 nm and about 20 nm and a surface .OH density below about 6.OH/nm.sup.2, and a nanoparticle shell conformally formed on surfaces of the TiO.sub.2 nanoparticle core. The nanoparticle shell is continuous and is thinner than about 2 nm. The nanoparticle shell includes a transparent material with a refractive index greater than about 1.7 for visible light. A valence band of the nanoparticle shell is more than about 0.1 eV lower than a valence band of the TiO.sub.2 nanoparticle core. A conduction band of the nanoparticle shell is more than about 0.5 eV higher than a conduction band of the TiO.sub.2 nanoparticle core.

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to methods for controlling etch depth by providing localized heating across a substrate. The method for controlling temperatures across the substrate can include individually controlling a plurality of heating pixels disposed in a dielectric body of a substrate support assembly. The plurality of heating pixels provide temperature distributions on a first surface of the substrate disposed on a support surface of the dielectric body. The temperature distributions correspond to a plurality of portions of at least one grating on a second surface of the substrate to be exposed to an ion beam. Additionally, the temperatures can be controlled by individually controlling light emitting diodes (LEDs) of LED arrays. The substrate is exposed to the ion beam to form a plurality of fins on the at least one grating. The at least one grating has a distribution of depths corresponding to the temperature distributions.

Improvements to gratings for use in waveguides and methods of producing them are described herein. Deep surface relief gratings (SRGs) may offer many advantages over conventional SRGs and Bragg gratings, an important one being a higher S-diffraction efficiency. In one embodiment, deep SRGs can be implemented as polymer surface relief gratings or evacuated Bragg gratings (EBGs). EBGs can be formed by first recording a holographic polymer dispersed liquid crystal (HPDLC) grating. Removing the liquid crystal from the cured grating provides a polymer surface relief grating. Polymer surface relief gratings have many applications including for use in waveguide-based displays.

There is provided a method for making an optical element having a textured surface. The method comprises the steps of: a) providing a plurality of primary optical fiber segments, each primary fiber segment comprising one or more cores; b) bundling the primary fiber segments into an assembly with the cores of said primary fiber segments extending parallely; c) transforming the assembly into a secondary structure comprising the parallely extending cores; and d) etching a surface of the secondary structure according to an etch profile of said secondary structure, the etch profile being defined by the parallely extending cores, thereby forming the textured surface of the optical element. An optical element having a textured surface is also provided.

A method of imprinting a pattern on a substrate is provided. The method includes forming a first pattern on a plurality of masters using a method other than imprinting, the first pattern including a plurality of patterned features of varying sizes; measuring the patterned features at a plurality of locations on each of the masters; selecting a first master of the plurality of masters based on the measurements of the patterned features on each of the masters; using the first master to form a second pattern on an imprint template; and imprinting the first pattern on a first device with the imprint template.

An optical adhesive including a viscoelastic or elastomeric adhesive layer and a cured polymer layer immediately adjacent the viscoelastic or elastomeric adhesive layer is described. The viscoelastic or elastomeric adhesive layer a refractive index less than 1.570 and the cured polymer layer has a refractive index of at least 1.570. An interface between the viscoelastic or elastomeric adhesive layer and the cured polymer layer is structured. The cured polymer layer has a storage modulus of at least 2000 MPa at 20° C. and a glass transition temperature of no more than 65° C.

Provided is a feature for highly precisely manufacturing a concave diffraction grating that has a uniform diffraction grating pattern. This method for manufacturing a concave diffraction grating includes: preparing a flat diffraction grating that has a lattice groove and that also has an elongated section, a thin-film section, or a low-friction section formed outside of a region for forming a mold for the concave diffraction grating; mounting the flat diffraction grating on a convex substrate and acquiring the mold for the concave diffraction grating; and transferring the lattice groove in the mold to the concave substrate.

A photonic integrated circuit device can comprise one or more layers having different refraction indices that cause optical coupling issues and losses from layer variations. A film of material can be applied to a layer of the photonic integrated circuit to avoid the issues to increase the optical bandwidth of the photonic integrated circuit device and decrease sensitivity to manufacturing and design processes.