Case study
Bayfol® HX holographic films star in INAF telescope application
The Italian National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF) needed a highly efficient, diffractive light-guiding material to improve the performance of its specialized telescopes. Bayfol® HX holographic films won the starring role. These films are versatile, easily processed and offer great optical quality.
The Italian National Institute for Astrophysics’ (INAF) high-performance telescopes are in use all around the world. These telescopes must be able to analyze light-spectra from stars in a variety of highly demanding ways. INAF was looking for highly efficient, diffractive light-guiding films to improve the performance of these specialized telescopes.
Holographic light-guiding films for diffractive films in telescopes need to meet numerous requirements. High optical quality and very good transparency is a given. But there are also other considerations. For example, the material must be versatile enough to be customized to meet the specifications of different instruments. Processability is critical: It must be highly uniform to ensure it is easy to reproduce and easy to handle without the need for chemical pre-treatment or post-processing.
Our photopolymer films can be successfully used in demanding applications such as spectrometers in high-performance telescopes for astronomy. They are, of course, particularly suitable for many consumer applications.
Bayfol® HX holographic films from Covestro gave INAF a highly efficient way to analyze the stars of our universe. INAF used customized Bayfol® HX films to produce the diffraction grating for a number of different instruments in five very different high-performance telescopes. The material offers high uniformity, enabling INAF to reduce the complexity of the analyzing instruments. The material has performed well, maintaining its very high optical quality and transparency for over eight years.
Thanks to these light-bearing photopolymer films, we were able to literally shift astronomical boundaries.
Why Bayfol® HX film was the clear choice to enhance performance of INAF telescopes
- Versatile; customizable: Enables production of different gratings for different high-performance telescopes
- Optical quality: The material has very good transparency, which reduces observing times
- Reliability: The material maintains its performance over a long period of time
- Easy processing: Fully dry recording process: No chemical pre-treatment or post-processing is necessary to develop the hologram
- Dependable: High uniformity enables easy reproduction
