Design and analysis of a novel large-aperture grating device and its experimental validation

Abstract

Large-aperture diffraction gratings are the key elements for high-power petawatt-class laser facility. At present, it is difficult to directly manufacture high-accuracy large-aperture gratings by using ultraprecision manufacturing techniques. Mechanical tiling technique with segmented gratings can be employed to cope with the challenge in large-aperture grating manufacturing. In this article, a novel tiling and adjusting device for obtaining large-aperture gratings was proposed and built to overcome the challenges in developing a Big Science Facility. The idea of integrated design and precision analysis has been introduced into the design process of the device. The theoretical analysis on static and dynamic characteristics has been conducted on the key components of the device by using finite element method. Under a series of mechanical tests, the performance of the large-aperture grating tiling and adjusting device developed was evaluated against the industrial requirements. The testing results show that the device has the positioning precision and stability in light of the design specifications. The results also indicate an optimal linear accuracy of 20 nm and a rotational accuracy of 0.4 µrad being achieved at the device.