Abstract Optical polyimide (PI) films were prepared by spin-coating from nearly non-volatile dimethylacetamide (DMAc) solutions. The uniformity of film thickness met the requirements of diffraction imaging quality. The results show that the final rotating speed ω, dynamic viscosity η, and initial polymer solid concentration c are the main factors affecting the film thickness T, and an empirical relationship which describes the film thickness as a function of the measured parameters was established to be $T \propto {c^{3.473}},{\rm{ }}{\eta ^{0.586}},{\rm{ }}{\omega ^{ - 0.811}}.$ Moreover, the viscosity dependence on concentration is system specific. Unlike traditional photoresist, the thickness uniformity of the PI film is determined by both spinning and precure process, which is intensively discussed in the present work. Uniform, 22-μm thick, PI films with transmitted wavefronts peak to valley (PV) ≤ 1/5 λ and root mean square (RMS) ≤ 1/50 λ were prepared under the optimum process: spin speed 900 rpm, initial fluid viscosity 10,500 cp, final spin time 120 s, precure temperature 70°C, spin process repeated 3 times. The results will find use in the production of optical quality membrane for ultra-lightweight optics or other applications.

Polyimide diffractive membrane lens can be used in space optical telescope to reduce the size and mass of an imaging system. However, traditional commercial aromatic polyimide membrane is hard to meet the challenging requirements of dimensional stability and optical homogeneity for optical use. Based on molecular structure design and the optimization of fabrication process, the prepared copolyamide-imide membrane achieved the desired performance of membrane as an optical material. It showed a very low coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE), which is 0.95 ppm/°C over a temperature range of −150–100 °C and relatively low coefficient of moisture expansion (CME), which is only 13.30 ppm/% RH (0~90% RH). For the optical use, the prepared copolyamide-imide membrane (φ200 mm) achieved good thickness uniformity with wave-front error smaller than λ/30 (λ = 632 nm) in RMS (root mean square). Besides, it simultaneously meets the optical, thermal, and mechanical requirements for space telescope use. Copolyamide-imide membranes in this research with good comprehensive performance can be used as large aperture membrane optical system architectures.

Optical polyimide (PI) membrane is a potential substrate to fabricate a diffractive primary lens in large aperture space-borne telescope. In this paper, we investigated the wet expansion behavior of PI via a strain gauge method and measured the coefficient of wet expansion (CWE) of PI membrane supported by different fixtures. The CWE of silica-fixed, ring-fixed, and free state PI membrane were near zero, 5 ppm/%, and 10 ppm/% respectively. It is found that Fresnel zone lens (FZL), based on PI membrane with lower CWE, achieve a better imaging quality with smaller wave-front errors. The underlying mechanisms and methods to improve imaging quality of ring-fixed FZL are discussed. This work provides direction in fabricating a flexible membrane diffractive lens with applicable imaging quality.