Fabrication of an anti-reflective microstructure on sapphire by femtosecond laser direct writing.

Herein, we report a facile approach for the maskless production of subwavelength-structured antireflective surfaces on sapphire with high and broadband transmittance in the mid-IR: femtosecond laser direct writing assist with wet etching. With this method, inverted pyramid and cone arrays with a pitch of about 2 μm and a total height of near 900 nm on the sapphire were produced. The resulting subwavelength structures greatly suppress specular reflection at normal incidence. The transmission measurements between 3 and 5 μm are in agreement with the simulations performed using VirtualLab, and the transmittance reached a maximum value of 92.5% at 4 μm. The sapphire with subwavelength structures also exhibits angle-independent transmittance characteristics up to a high θ=60°. Therefore, these subwavelength structures on sapphire are of great technological importance in mid-IR optics, especially for the harsh-condition-applicable windows of military mid-IR devices.