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Microlenses with defined contour shapes.

V J Cadarso1, J Perera-Núñez, L Jacot-Descombes

  • 1Microsystems laboratory (LMIS1), École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland. victor.cadarso@epfl.ch

Optics Express
|September 22, 2011
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Ink-jet printing creates custom microlenses with controlled shapes. This flexible technology precisely shapes optical elements for various applications, demonstrating its practical viability.

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Area of Science:

  • Optics and Photonics
  • Materials Science
  • Microfabrication

Background:

  • Microlenses are crucial optical components.
  • Controlling microlens shape is challenging.
  • Ink-jet printing offers potential for precise fabrication.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To propose and demonstrate ink-jet printing for fabricating microlenses with controlled shapes.
  • To investigate the optical properties of these custom-shaped microlenses.
  • To showcase the flexibility and validity of the proposed fabrication technology.

Main Methods:

  • Ink-jet printing of optical ink onto SU-8 pillars.
  • Fabrication of microlenses with five distinct contour shapes.
  • Experimental characterization of optical properties (focal distance, NA, FWHM).
  • Analysis of microlens array uniformity and focal plane characteristics.

Main Results:

  • Successfully fabricated microlenses with diverse geometries (circular, elliptical, toric, advanced).
  • Characterized optical properties including focal distance, numerical aperture (NA), and full-width at half maximum (FWHM).
  • Demonstrated high uniformity in microlens arrays (7% standard deviation in total intensity).
  • Determined focal planes for symmetric and Sturm intervals for non-symmetric microlenses.

Conclusions:

  • Ink-jet printing is a flexible and valid technology for producing microlenses with precise shape control.
  • The method enables the fabrication of microlenses with tailored optical properties.
  • The demonstrated technology holds promise for advanced optical system development.