Related Experiment Video
Updated: Dec 18, 2025
07:14
Microfabrication of Implantable Optics Integrated in a Microstructured Imaging Window for Advanced In Vivo Imaging
Published on: April 11, 2025
1.1K
3D-Printing for Transformation Optics in Electromagnetic High-Frequency Lens Applications
Jose-Manuel Poyanco1, Francisco Pizarro1, Eva Rajo-Iglesias2
1Escuela de Ingeniería Eléctrica, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, 2362804 Valparaíso, Chile.
Materials (Basel, Switzerland)
|June 18, 2020
Summary
Researchers designed and built a 3D-printed hyperbolic flat lens for 30 GHz applications. This novel dielectric lens demonstrates good radiation performance, offering a simplified fabrication method for advanced antenna systems.
Area of Science:
- Electromagnetics and Optics
- Additive Manufacturing
- Materials Science
Background:
- Metamaterials and transformation optics enable novel electromagnetic devices.
- Flat lenses offer advantages over traditional curved optics.
- 3D printing provides a versatile platform for fabricating complex structures.
Purpose of the Study:
- To design, construct, and analyze a 3D-printed transformed hyperbolic flat lens.
- To achieve desired permittivity values using a single dielectric material and varying infill density.
- To evaluate the radiation performance of the 3D-printed lens at 30 GHz.
Main Methods:
- Utilized transformation optics principles to design the hyperbolic lens geometry.
- Employed 3D printing with ABS dielectric filament (relative permittivity of 12).
- Varied the infill percentage of the 3D-printed sections to control effective permittivity.
- Analyzed the radiation performance of the fabricated lens.
Main Results:
- Successfully designed and 3D-printed a transformed hyperbolic flat lens.
- Achieved a gradient of effective permittivity values by adjusting infill density.
- The 3D-printed lens demonstrated good radiation performance at 30 GHz.
- Performance was comparable or superior to the original canonical lens design.
Conclusions:
- 3D printing is a viable method for fabricating transformed optical devices using a single dielectric material.
- Varying infill density is an effective technique for realizing gradient permittivity in 3D-printed metamaterials.
- The developed hyperbolic flat lens shows promise for 30 GHz applications, including antenna systems.
