Pixelated optical interference filters

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The RCMO team is interested in the development of pixelated optical interference filters for the development of compact multi-spectral cameras. The initial idea of these activities, carried out within the framework of two research and technology (R&T) projects funded by the Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES), was to extend the principle of Bayer filters used in color cameras to filters with the same type of geometry but with greatly improved performances similar to those obtained with the optical interference filters used in the filter wheels of multi-spectral cameras.

The challenge, associated with the realization of this kind of components, lies in the combination of classical deposition techniques of interference filters and structuring methods at the pixel scale (5 to 15 µm side). In collaboration with the FEMTO-ST laboratory and the Mimento technology center in Besançon, we have developed methods and strategies for structuring multilayer stacks with very straight pixel edges. Work is in progress to improve the technology to reproduce this kind of performance not on a single pixel array but on 2×2 or 3×3 pixel arrays and to extend this principle to other application domains.

Illustration of the Bayer filter principle and of pixelated filters. Demonstration of a matrix of single pixels of a matrix of 2 pixels.

Collaborators: FEMTO-ST

Fundings: CNES

Contacts: Antonin Moreau/Aude Lereu/Julien Lumeau