New materials improve high-performance telescopes in astronomy

Covestro is cooperating with the National Institute for Astrophysics in Italy (INAF) to enhance the performance of astronomical instruments through holographic optical elements.

Covestro has used Bayfol HX photopolymer films, which have proved to be ideal for the reproducible production of highly efficient volume holograms in high-performance telescopes for novel spectrometers.

This allows periodic refractive index patterns to be flexibly inscribed into the volume of the Bayfol HX films using an appropriate laser exposure setup.

Alessio Zanutta, Project Manager for Holography at INAF, said: “In contrast to the materials previously used and available for the production of diffraction gratings and their processing limitations, volume holograms based on Bayfol FX enable a wide variety of diffraction grating geometries and very high combinability or integration with or into other optical elements.”

“That opens the door to the realisation of completely new spectrometers. For example, INAF has already succeeded in introducing the film into observatories worldwide with several instruments each in five high-performance telescopes.”

“The oldest holographic optical element produced this way has been working reliably for over eight years.”

Friedrich-Karl Bruder, Head of Application Development for Holography at Covestro, said: “Our photopolymer films can be successfully used in demanding applications such as spectrometers in high-performance telescopes for astronomy, and they are of course particularly suitable for many consumer applications.”