Numerical study of feature-distribution effects for anti-reflection structured surfaces on binary gratings

Appl Opt. 2023 May 1;62(13):3398-3408. doi: 10.1364/AO.487810.

Abstract

Suppressing Fresnel reflections from dielectric boundaries using periodic and random antireflection structured surfaces (ARSSs) has been vigorously studied as an alternative to thin film coatings for high-power laser applications. A starting point in the design of ARSS profiles is effective medium theory (EMT), approximating the ARSS layer with a thin film of a specific effective permittivity, which has features with subwavelength transverse-scale dimensions, independent of their relative mutual positions or distributions. Using rigorous coupled-wave analysis, we studied the effects of various pseudo-random deterministic transverse feature distributions of ARSS on diffractive surfaces, analyzing the combined performance of the quarter-wave height nanoscale features, superimposed on a binary 50% duty cycle grating. Various distribution designs were investigated at 633 nm wavelength for TE and TM polarization states at normal incidence, comparable to EMT fill fractions for a fused silica substrate in air. The results show differences in performance between ARSS transverse feature distributions, exhibiting better overall performance for subwavelength and near-wavelength scaled unit cell periodicities with short auto-correlation lengths, in comparison to equivalent effective permittivity designs that have less complicated profiles. We conclude that structured layers of quarter-wavelength depth and specific feature distributions can outperform conventional periodic subwavelength gratings as antireflection treatments on diffractive optical components.