METHOD FOR PRODUCING AN OPTICAL COMPONENT HAVING A COATED INTERNAL STRUCTURE AND OPTICAL COMPONENT PRODUCED BY SAID METHOD

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for producing an optical component consisting of at least two individual parts, which together enclose an open cavity, wherein the timer sides delimiting the cavity are coated or structured, and from which previously material has been removed in zones in the region of the free aperture, wherein said region is recoated and the individual parts are connected to one another by wringing. The wringing height is greater than the removal height plus the height of the coating. The invention also relates to optical components which are produced according to this method.

Claims

1. An optical component, comprising a number N of individual parts, which are wrung together at at least N−1 planar joining surfaces, wherein a cavity is present in a cross section of the optical component, said cavity being arranged in the interior of the optical component and being surrounded by the N individual parts, wherein a first individual part ET.sub.1 has at least one first coating surface with a first coating applied thereon and the first coating surface has at least one first planar partial region, and the first individual part has at least one first joining surface FF.sub.1 from the set of the N−1 joining surfaces, and the first coating on the first planar partial region is set back by a parallel offset Δt in relation to the first joining surface FF.sub.1, and the parallel offset Δt is less than 200 nm, and the first coating is arranged in the interior of the optical component.

2. The optical component as claimed in claim 1, wherein same is provided for at least one design wavelength and/or a design wavelength range, and the parallel offset Δt is less than the design wavelength and/or the minimum value of the design wavelength range.

3. The optical component as claimed in claim 1, wherein the N individual parts are all wrung together at at least N planar joining surfaces.

4. The optical component as claimed in claim 1, wherein the distance between the first coating and a surface of an opposite second individual part is less than half of the design wavelength, and/or in that exactly two individual parts are present and either exactly one joining surface is present or all joining surfaces are arranged in a common plane.

5. The optical component as claimed in claim 1, wherein a further coating surface adjoining the first coating surface is present on the first individual part, and extends outside the plane of the first coating surface.

6. The optical component as claimed in claim 1, wherein at least three individual parts are present and a second coating adjoining the first coating is present on a second individual part from the set of the N individual parts and a third coating adjoining the second coating is present on a third individual part from the set of the N individual parts, and/or in that the cavity, apart from gaps possibly present and having a gap width smaller than the design wavelength and/or the minimum value of the design wavelength range, is completely delimited by coatings.

7. The optical component as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first coating is embodied as at least one of the following coatings: partly or completely reflective coating, antireflection coating dichroic coating polarization-dependently reflective coating absorbent coating and/or in that the first coating comprises at least one metallic layer and/or at least one inorganic dielectric layer and/or at least one organic layer.

8. The optical component as claimed in claim 1, wherein provision is made of a beam path running through at least one individual part and at least partly through the first coating.

9. The optical component as claimed in claim 1, wherein provision is made of a beam path running completely outside the individual parts in the cavity, and/or in that the cavity is completely or partly delimited by reflective coatings.

10. The optical component as claimed in claim 1, wherein the cavity in the cross section has a shape which is square, rectangular, triangular, pentagonal, hexagonal, round, cylindrical or elliptic.

11. The optical component as claimed in claim 1, wherein the cavity has a cross-sectional area that varies over different cross-sectional planes.

12. A method for producing an optical component comprising the following steps: providing N individual parts where N>1 comprising providing at least one first individual part having at least one planar first surface on which at least one first coating surface and a first joining surface FF.sub.1 are provided, providing at least one first connection surface VF.sub.1 on the first surface or on a first side surface of the first individual part, providing at least N−1 further individual parts ET.sub.2 . . . ET.sub.N, each having a joining surface FF.sub.n and a connection surface VF.sub.n, wherein n=2 . . . N, superficially removing material by means of a surface processing method in respect of at least the first coating surface as far as a predetermined depth t in relation to the first joining surface, applying a coating and/or a structure having a predetermined thickness d on the first coating surface, where d≤t holds true, connecting the individual parts by wringing a respective joining surface FF.sub.n onto the following joining surface VF.sub.n+1 where n=1 . . . N−1, such that the first coating surface with the applied first coating and/or structure lies in the interior of the optical component.

13. The method as claimed in claim 12, additionally comprising connecting the last individual part ET.sub.N to the first individual part by wringing the last joining surface FF.sub.N onto the first connection surface VF.sub.1.

14. The method as claimed in claim 12, wherein the surface processing method comprises ion beam figuring, wet-chemical etching, dry-chemical etching, plasma etching and/or zonal polishing.

15. The use of an optical component as claimed in claim 1 for at least one of the following purposes a. as polarization beam splitter b. as dichroic long-pass, short-pass or bandpass filter c. as hollow light guide d. as light funnel e. as diffusor f. as mirror.

Description

[0066] The figures show the following:

[0067] FIG. 1 shows a first individual part.

[0068] FIG. 2 shows the first individual part with a first coating.

[0069] FIG. 3 shows a first exemplary embodiment.

[0070] FIG. 4 shows a cross section of the first exemplary embodiment.

[0071] FIG. 5 shows a second exemplary embodiment.

[0072] FIG. 6 shows a third exemplary embodiment.

[0073] FIG. 7 shows a fourth exemplary embodiment.

EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

[0074] The invention is explained below on the basis of exemplary embodiments.

[0075] FIG. 1 shows a first individual part. What is illustrated is a first individual part 11 having a first joining surface FF.sub.1 21 and a first coating surface 51, the first planar partial region 61 of which extends over the entire first coating surface, i.e. is identical with the latter. The coating surface is set back by a parallel offset t relative to the joining surface. A first connection surface 31 is provided on a side surface.

[0076] FIG. 2 shows the first individual part with a first coating. Here a first coating 51 having a thickness d is applied to the first coating surface. This results in a parallel offset Δt of the coating in relation to the joining surface, said parallel offset being embodied as a set-back offset.

[0077] FIG. 3 shows a first exemplary embodiment. Here a first 11, a second 12, a third 13 and a fourth individual part 14 are wrung together at a first 21, a second 22, a third 23 and a fourth joining surface 14. The wringing together arises by the connection surface (mating surface) of the nearest individual part being wrung onto the respective joining surface in a cyclic manner. A cavity 2 is present in the interior of the optical component 1. Apart from narrow gaps at the edge, the cavity is delimited by a first 51, a second 52, a third 53 and a fourth coating 54. The optical component can be a hollow light guide in which the light is guided through within the cavity by way of reflections at the coatings in the z-direction and is possibly homogenized in the process.

[0078] FIG. 4 shows a cross section of the first exemplary embodiment. Here the optical component 1 is cut in an xy-plane. The hatchings are not illustrated, for the sake of clarity. A cavity 2 is present in the cross section of the optical component, said cavity being arranged in the interior of the optical component and being surrounded by the four individual parts 11, 12, 13, 14. The coatings represent the delimitation of the cavity.

[0079] In a modification of this exemplary embodiment, the component is wrung only at three joining surfaces 21, 22, 23, while the first connection surface simply bears against the fourth joining surface, without being wrung.

[0080] Here the joining surfaces are free of coatings, as are the corresponding mating surfaces to be wrung (connection surfaces) of the respectively adjacent individual part.

[0081] FIG. 5 shows a second exemplary embodiment. This optical component 1 comprises a first 11 and a second individual part 12, which are wrung at two joining surfaces 21a and 21b. These two joining surfaces lie in one plane. These two joining surfaces can also be regarded as a non-contiguous joining surface. The first coating surface 41 has a first planar partial region and a partial surface 41b lying outside said plane and embodied in curved fashion. The first coating 51 and the second coating 52 delimit the cavity. This arrangement can likewise serve as a hollow light guide in the z-direction.

[0082] In a modification of the second exemplary embodiment, the arrangement is embodied rotationally symmetrically in the y-direction as a hollow sphere. Such an arrangement can constitute an Ulbricht sphere.

[0083] FIG. 6 shows a third exemplary embodiment. Here the light direction is provided in the z-direction. The beam path can be provided through one or both individual parts and/or through the coating. This can constitute a dichroic filter, for example. The cavity 2 here has a thickness corresponding to the parallel offset Δt.

[0084] FIG. 7 shows a fourth exemplary embodiment. Here the light direction is provided in the z-direction. The beam path can be provided through one or both individual parts 11, 12 and/or through the coating 51. The coating is provided at an angle of 45°, for example, with respect to the beam direction. Such an arrangement can constitute a polarization beam splitter, for example.

[0085] It should be pointed out that none of the figures is drawn to scale. In particular, the parallel offset and the thickness of the coatings are illustrated with an exaggerated size.

[0086] The reference signs used uniformly in all the figures are as follows: [0087] 1. Optical component [0088] 2. Cavity [0089] 11. First individual part [0090] 12. Second individual part [0091] 13. Third individual part [0092] 14. Fourth individual part [0093] 21. First joining surface [0094] 22. Second joining surface [0095] 23. Third joining surface [0096] 24. Fourth joining surface [0097] 31. First connection surface [0098] 41. First coating surface [0099] 51. First coating [0100] 52. Second coating [0101] 53. Third coating [0102] 54. Fourth coating [0103] 61. First planar partial region