Fabrication of a phase transmission holographic optical element in polycarbonate and its characterization

The phase transmission holographic optical element in silver halide holographic emulsion, especially for holographic collimator sights, is fabricated and the desired diffraction efficiency is obtained with very high transmission. One of the main drawbacks of these holograms are that they become dark by being exposed under sunlight, and this darkness drastically reduces the visible transmission and diffraction efficiency of a holographic optical element, hence it is not suitable for weapon sight application. To overcome this problem, we transferred a holographic optical element with a reticle image from silver halide into polycarbonate by using copying, electroforming, and recombination techniques. The holographic optical element in polycarbonate has many advantages; the detailed method of fabrication, transfer, and its characterization are presented. The very interesting result of diffraction efficiency variation with angle obtained in polycarbonate is discussed.