Ultra-light optical element

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12099217-B2
Application number	US-202117482005-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 22, 2021
Priority date	Sep 23, 2020
Publication date	Sep 24, 2024
Grant date	Sep 24, 2024

Abstract

A mirror includes an ultralight substrate. A reflective layer is disposed on the ultralight substrate. A bonding layer may be disposed between the reflective layer and the substrate.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A mirror, comprising:
an ultralight substrate having a first surface, wherein the ultralight substrate has a density less than about 300 kg/m 3 ;
a reflective layer on the substrate;
a bonding layer disposed between the reflective layer and the first surface of the substrate; and
a passivation layer disposed between the first surface of the substrate and the bonding layer.

2. The mirror of claim 1 , wherein the reflective layer is attached to the first surface of the substrate by the bonding layer.

3. The mirror of claim 1 , wherein the passivation layer includes one of a metal, metal oxide, silica, a polymer, a varnish, or a lacquer.

4. The mirror of claim 1 , wherein the reflective layer includes one of gold, silver, rhodium, platinum, copper, nickel, chromium, aluminum, or a multilayer dielectric material.

5. The mirror of claim 1 , wherein the first surface is an optically flat surface.

6. The mirror of claim 1 , wherein the bonding layer includes one of a UV-curable adhesive, thermally curable adhesive, cyanoacrylate adhesive, Pressure Sensitive Adhesive (PSA), or an epoxy adhesive.

7. The mirror of claim 1 , wherein the ultralight substrate includes an aerogel, a xerogel, or a metal-organic framework.

8. The mirror of claim 7 , wherein the aerogel includes at least one of silica, alumina, titania, or zirconia.

9. The mirror of claim 1 , wherein the ultralight substrate includes an organic material.

10. The mirror of claim 9 , wherein the organic material includes one or more of resorcinol-formaldehyde, polyurethane, epoxy, polyacrylonitrile, polyimides, polyvinylidene fluoride or polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF), and a polyester.

11. The mirror of claim 1 , wherein the ultralight substrate includes a second surface opposite the first surface, and wherein a surface area of the first surface is greater than the surface area of the second surface.

12. The mirror of claim 11 , wherein the first surface and the second surface have a same shape.

13. The mirror of claim 12 , wherein the same shape is one of rectangular, square, or circular.

14. A mirror, comprising:
an ultralight substrate having a first surface, wherein the ultralight substrate has a density less than about 300 kg/m 3 ;
a reflective layer on the substrate; and
a bonding layer disposed between the reflective layer and the first surface of the substrate, wherein a thickness of the bonding layer is less than 5 microns.

15. A mirror, comprising:
an ultralight substrate having a first surface, wherein the ultralight substrate has a density less than about 300 kg/m 3 ;
a reflective layer on the substrate; and
a bonding layer disposed between the reflective layer and the first surface of the substrate, wherein the bonding layer includes one of a weld material or a solder material.

16. A method of fabricating an aerogel mirror, comprising:
forming a reflective layer on a first surface of a substrate;
coupling a second surface of an ultralight component on the reflective layer formed on the substrate, wherein the ultralight component has a density less than about 300 kg/m 3 , wherein coupling the second surface of the ultralight component includes 3D printing the ultralight component on the reflective layer; and
decoupling the ultralight component from the substrate after the coupling, wherein after the decoupling at least a portion of the reflective layer of the first surface is transferred to the second surface of the ultralight component.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein forming the reflective layer includes depositing a layer of reflective material on the first surface.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the reflective material includes one of gold, silver, rhodium, platinum, copper, nickel, chromium, aluminum, or a multilayer dielectric material.

19. The method of claim 16 , wherein forming the reflective layer on the first surface incudes depositing a layer of reflective material on an optically flat first surface.

20. A method of fabricating an aerogel mirror, comprising:
forming a reflective layer on a first surface of a substrate;
coupling a second surface of an ultralight component on the reflective layer formed on the substrate, wherein the ultralight component has a density less than about 300 kg/m 3 , wherein coupling the second surface of the ultralight component includes attaching the second surface of the ultralight component to the reflective layer using an adhesive; and
decoupling the ultralight component from the substrate after the coupling, wherein after the decoupling at least a portion of the reflective layer of the first surface is transferred to the second surface of the ultralight component.

21. The method of claim 20 , wherein attaching the second surface of the ultralight component to the reflective layer using an adhesive includes curing the adhesive.

22. The method of claim 20 , wherein attaching the second surface of the ultralight component to the reflective layer using an adhesive includes disposing an adhesive film between the second surface and the reflective layer.

23. A method of fabricating an aerogel mirror, comprising:
forming a reflective layer on a first surface of a substrate;
coupling a second surface of an ultralight component on the reflective layer formed on the substrate, wherein the ultralight component has a density less than about 300 kg/m 3 , wherein coupling the second surface of the ultralight component includes attaching the second surface of the ultralight component to the reflective layer using a bonding material; and
decoupling the ultralight component from the substrate after the coupling, wherein after the decoupling at least a portion of the reflective layer of the first surface is transferred to the second surface of the ultralight component.

24. The method of claim 23 , wherein attaching the second surface of the ultralight component to the reflective layer using a bonding material includes applying the bonding material on one or both of the second surface and the reflective layer.

25. The method of claim 23 , wherein decoupling the ultralight component from the substrate includes decoupling the ultralight component such that, after the decoupling, at least a portion of the reflective layer is attached to the second surface of the ultralight component by the bonding material.

26. The method of claim 23 , wherein attaching the second surface of the ultralight component to the reflective layer using a bonding material includes (a) depositing a passivation layer on the second surface of the ultralight component, (b) applying the bonding material on one or both of the passivation layer and the reflective layer, and (c) coupling the passivation layer to the reflective layer using the bonding material.

27. The method of claim 26 , wherein the passivation layer includes one of a metal, a metal oxide, silica, alumina, a polymer, a varnish, or a lacquer.

28. The method of claim 23 , wherein the bonding material includes at least one of a weld material, a solder material, a UV-curable adhesive, or a thermally curable adhesive.

29. A method for making an ultralight mirror, the method comprising:
polishing one side of an ultralight substrate, wherein the ultralight substrate has a density less than about 300 kg/m 3 ;
forming a reflective surface on at least the one side of the subs

Assignees

• Innoviz Tech Ltd

Inventors

• Pomerantz Uri
• Goren Nir
• Ofir Yuval

Classifications

• B29D11/00596 Primary

  Mirrors · CPC title

• B33Y80/00

  Products made by additive manufacturing · CPC title

• B33Y10/00

  Processes of additive manufacturing · CPC title

• G02B26/101

  with both horizontal and vertical deflecting means, e.g. raster or XY scanners (colour television using laser beams scanning a display screen H04N9/3129) · CPC title

• G02B26/0833

  the reflecting element being a micromechanical device, e.g. a MEMS mirror, DMD (G02B26/0825 takes precedence; micromechanical devices in general B81B) · CPC title