INP Greifswald receives €700,000 from the new BMBF joint project "Plasma and Optical Technologies"
With the active participation of eight industrial partners, plasma physicists from the Leibniz Institute for Plasma Science and Technology (INP Greifswald) and the Ruhr University Bochum are working in collaboration with experts in optical coating technology from Jena and Hanover on processes for the manufacture of high-quality optical precision surfaces. The project volume totals €9.5 million, 60% of which is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).
Optical products shape our lives and work in many areas. They are used in everyday life, for example in the form of spectacle lenses, and in science and technology, for example as high-performance mirrors or filters for laser optics in materials processing or measurement technology. Precise optical components are also the foundation of modern communication technology. Due to their importance for photonics, surface functionalisation and thin film manufacturing are considered key technologies of the 21st century. Only through a series of highly developed manufacturing processes can products that we now take for granted be realised. These processes are mostly based on the use of plasmas.
Scientists at INP Greifswald will conduct research into plasma- and ion-assisted manufacturing processes. To achieve the project goals, active process control concepts will be developed for the first time based on the measurement of plasma parameters during the manufacturing process. Until now, process control in the manufacture of optical components has been limited to the control of operating variables such as gas flows, electrical voltages or currents.
The high quality of optical coatings has been achieved through methods for controlling optical coating thicknesses that have been perfected over the past decade. However, the internal plasma parameters that are crucial for coating formation have not yet been used for process control.
The BMBF-funded joint project 'Plasma and Optical Technologies: Increasing the Quality and Yield of Optical Coating Technologies PluTO+' started on 1 October and is part of the 'Photonics Research Germany' programme. The sub-project at INP Greifswald is being funded with approximately 700,000 euros.
