Cylindrical Microlens Research Articles

Compact Partially End-Pumped Innoslab Laser Based on Micro-Cylindrical Lens Array Homogenizer

We demonstrate a compact, partially end-pumping Innoslab laser based on a micro-cylindrical lens array homogenizer. A dimension of 12 × 0.4 mm2 flat-top pumping line with a Gaussian intensity distribution across the line was simulated by the ray tracing technique. The rate equations considering the asymmetric transverse spatial distributions are theoretically developed. The simulation results are in good agreement with the experimental results. Preliminary data shows that for a pump power of 260 W, a maximum pulse energy of 15.7 mJ was obtained with a pulse width of 8.5 ns at a repetition frequency of 1 kHz. The beam quality M2 factors in the unstable and stable directions were 1.732 and 1.485, respectively. The technology has been successfully applied to temperature and humidity profiling lidar and ozone lidar and has been productized, yielding direct economic value.

In Situ Dewetting Assisted Plasma Etching of Large‐Scale Uniform Nanocones on Arbitrarily Structured Glass Elements

AbstractNanocones are ideal for wide‐angle antireflection of glass elements, yet their applications often encounter complex geometries and large sizes, bringing serious difficulty in developing a reliable and efficient manufacturing process. Here, an in situ dewetting assisted plasma etching (In situ DAPE) method is proposed to engrave nanocones on arbitrarily structured glass elements in one step. While exposed to high‐energy plasma, pre‐sputtered platinum (Pt) film undergoes dewetting, forming uniformly distributed nanoparticles that act as in situ sacrificial masks for plasma etching to generate nanocones. The nanocone size is decided by nanoparticle size, which can be modified through the Marangoni effect of the melted Pt film. Incorporating a passivation step can improve the aspect ratio of nanocones up to ≈8:1 due to the trench effect. Nanocones with diameters ranging from 62 to 136 nm and heights from 126 to 942 nm can be achieved. The nanocones help to achieve an average transmittance of 98% over the 0.3–2.5 µm spectrum and a 79.4% laser‐induced damage threshold of bare fused silica. The efficient fabrication of nanocones over multiple glass elements is demonstrated including a 2‐inch flat window, cylindrical microlens array, and diffractive grating, highlighting the efficacy of the In situ DAPE method for high‐performance optical elements.

Design and Fabrication of Continuous Surface Optical Field Modulator for Angular Spectrum Discreteness Compensation.

The light homogenizing element is a crucial component of the illumination system of the lithography machine. Its primary purpose is to realize the uniform distribution of energy. However, it suffers from a common issue, which is angular spectrum discreteness, which significantly impacts light uniformity. To address this, we design and fabricate random micro-cylindrical lens arrays to obtain a small-angle Gaussian optical field, which can compensate for the angular spectrum discreteness. By adjusting the pitches and curvature radii of the micro-cylindrical lenses separately, we are able to manipulate the divergence angle of the emitted sub-beams, enabling precise angular spectrum modulation. By using mask-moving technology, the angular spectrum modulator is fabricated to generate a Gaussian illumination field. The surface profile is measured and determined with a structural roughness below 10 nm. Furthermore, optical test experiments on the modulator have been conducted, achieving an angle error of less than 0.02° and a balance better than 0.5%.

Responsive Liquid Crystal Network Microstructures with Customized Shapes and Predetermined Morphing for Adaptive Soft Micro-Optics.

Stimuli-responsive materials have garnered substantial interest in recent years, particularly liquid crystal networks (LCNs) with sophisticatedly designed structures and morphing capabilities. Extensive efforts have been devoted to LCN structural designs spanning from two-dimensional (2D) to three-dimensional (3D) configurations and their intricate morphing behaviors through designed alignment. However, achieving microscale structures and large-area preparation necessitates the development of novel techniques capable of facilely fabricating LCN microstructures with precise control over both overall shape and alignment, enabling a 3D-to-3D shape change. Herein, a simple and cost-effective in-cell soft lithography (ICSL) technique is proposed to create LCN microstructures with customized shapes and predesigned morphing. The ICSL technique involves two sequential steps: fabricating the desired microstructure as the template by using the photopolymerization-induced phase separation (PIPS) method and reproducing the LCN microstructures through templating. Meanwhile, surface anchoring is employed to design and achieve molecular alignment, accommodating different deformation modes. With the proposed ICSL technique, cylindrical and spherical microlens arrays (CMLAs and SMLAs) have been successfully fabricated with stimulus-driven polarization-dependent focusing effects. This technique offers distinct advantages including high customizability, large-area production, and cost-effectiveness, which pave a new avenue for extensive applications in different fields, exemplified by adaptive soft micro-optics and photonics.

Conformal polishing of a glass microlens array through oxyhydrogen flame-induced viscoelasticity flow at nano/microscale

Glass microlens arrays with small unit sizes and high integration capacities are widely utilized in various optical systems, but the femtosecond laser milling produces microscale residual steps and nanoscale rough topography on microlens surface. Accordingly, an oxyhydrogen flame polishing is proposed after femtosecond laser milling, aiming to efficiently fabricate the ultrasmooth surface without damaging shape accuracy by triggering a viscoelasticity flow at nano/microscale. Through simultaneous modelling of the polishing process, a large thermal power results in a high viscoelasticity flow velocity for nanoscale topography smoothing, followed by microscale step melting. Then, a single-point polishing experiment is conducted to determine the critical transition temperatures for nanoscale smoothing and microscale melting. It is further experimentally applied to achieve an ultrasmooth surface of cylindrical microlens array with its roughness less than 0.2 nm and no hydroxyl introduction. This process also effectively repairs subsurface damage and reduces the form error to ±0.5 μm, improving the surface quality and shape accuracy. Similar results are also observed for the polishing of spherical microlenses. In conclusion, the method of combining femtosecond laser milling and oxyhydrogen flame polishing holds promise for high-efficiency and high-quality fabrication of glass components with micro features.

Fabrication of quartz microlenses using laser ablation

Various quartz microlenses were fabricated in two stages with two lasers. A fiber laser at 1.06 µm was employed for the laser ablation, while a CO2 laser at 10.6 µm was used for direct laser writing (DLW). The experimental data demonstrate the formation of spherical, cylindrical microlenses and microlens array (MLA) with an optimum numerical aperture (NA) of 0.55. Theoretical calculations and simulation were conducted to estimate the temperature at the quartz surface during ablation and simulation of the reshaping. A temperature of 2500 K is achieved in the ablation, and 2015 K was established during the reshaping. The ablation depth is 280 µm, the diameter is 150 µm, and the heat affected zone (HAZ) is approximately 1345 µm after 1 s. Due to the controllable laser micromachining, optoelectronics and biological imaging are viable applications for MLAs.

Coupling of laser diode with cylindrical microlens fabricated on the tip of single-mode photonic crystal fiber: prediction of coupling optics by ABCD matrix

Abstract We report the theoretical prediction of the coupling optics involving a laser diode and photonic crystal fiber which contains on its tip cylindrical microlens. The analysis is based on relevant ABCD matrix formalism. Though photonic crystal fiber has very large single-mode region, we carry on the investigation for two commonly used wavelengths such as 1.3 µm and 1.5 µm. For the particular kind of photonic crystal having specific value of air filling ratio and hole pitch, we have optimized the distance of laser diode from the microlens in order to get maximum value of coupling efficiency for each value of radius of cylindrical microlens. Incidentally, we have got here maximum coupling efficiency to the extent of 86.99 % at the wavelength 1.3 µm when the radius of the cylindrical microlens is 8.5 µm and effective spot size of the fiber is 4.433909 µm. Further, the maximum efficiency becomes 91.78 % at 1.3 µm when the radius of the cylindrical microlens is 4.0 µm and effective spot size of the fiber is 1.859907 µm. It has been shown that wavelength 1.5 µm is not so coupling efficient like 1.3 µm. Moreover, it has been shown that with same set of relevant parameters, PCF is more coupling efficient compared to ordinary graded index fiber. Thus the present work generates scope for varying different photonic crystal fiber parameters and the wavelengths of source as well for enhancing the coupling efficiency. Accordingly, the present analysis will be extremely helpful for design of efficient coupler of this kind.

Study of coupling optics of cylindrical microlens fabricated on tips of graded index fibers having different profile exponents

Abstract With the help of ABCD matrix concept, we examine the coupling efficiency of a single mode circular core graded index fiber (GIF) excited by laser diode via cylindrical micro lens on the fiber tip. We investigate the efficiencies for refractive index distribution of some specific profile exponents such as g = 4.0, 8.0, 10.0 and 20.0. The refractive index distribution for GIFs had been studied earlier. The efficiency is calculated along the vertical plane as the efficiency is very poor along the horizontal plane. For two very common wavelengths 1.3 μm and 1.5 μm the efficiencies have been calculated and for 1.3 μm wavelength the refractive index distribution of profile exponent (g) having the value g = 4 is found to be most efficient in this context. The results are very much important in the design of optical optimization.

Cylindrical liquid crystal micro-lens array based on interdigital electrodes

ABSTRACT Based on the traditional structure of in plane switching liquid crystal display, a cylindrical liquid crystal micro-lens array driven by interdigital electrodes is proposed, and its performance is studied. Firstly, the director distribution and relative phase difference distribution of liquid crystal molecules were calculated, which shows that this structure can be used to fabricate cylindrical liquid crystal micro-lens. Then, by comparing lenses of difference sizes, it is found that narrow electrodes should be selected for lens production, and the centre of the electrode gap should be selected as the central axis of a single liquid crystal micro-lens. Finally, a certain electrode structure is selected to explore its focal length, focusing quality and zoom time. The results show that the focal length of the liquid crystal micro-lens decreases gradually with the increase of the driving voltage. When the driving voltage is between 3 Vrms and 5.5 Vrms, the liquid crystal micro-lens has good focusing quality, and its corresponding focal length changes from 1.63 mm to 20.28 mm. Based on this structure, when the liquid crystal lens is driven by the above two voltages alternately, the time required for liquid crystal molecules to reach stability is 2.35 s and 3.87 s respectively.

Study of coupling efficiency of a laser diode to a cylindrical microlens tipped single-mode circular core dispersion-shifted and dispersion-flattened fibers using ABCD matrix formalism

Study of coupling efficiency of a laser diode to a cylindrical microlens tipped single-mode circular core dispersion-shifted and dispersion-flattened fibers using ABCD matrix formalism

Design and Fabrication of a Continuous Zoom Liquid Micro-Cylindrical Lens System

Design and Fabrication of a Continuous Zoom Liquid Micro-Cylindrical Lens System

Fabrication of Cylindrical Microlens by Femtosecond Laser‐Assisted Hydrofluoric Acid Wet Etching of Fused Silica

Micro‐optical elements play a key role in various advanced devices, including biomedical, photovoltaic, 3D display, and optical communication devices. As one of the typical micro‐optical elements, cylindrical microlens (CML) can modulate the wavefront phase of the incident light in only one direction. The process methods of CML have been developed and various methods are proposed for CML fabrication. For the simple and versatile fabrication of CML on hard brittle materials, femtosecond laser direct writing combined with hydrofluoric acid (HF) wet etching for removal of laser‐modified regions in fused silica is proposed here for high‐quality CML fabrication. A high‐accuracy CML can be processed by adjusting the HF etching time, femtosecond laser pulse energy, and the position of the laser exposure point. Crossed‐shaped CML can be realized by accurate control of the single laser pulse exposure positions at the intersection in two directions. A series of alphabet‐shaped CML, showing this fabrication method's flexibility is made. The characterization of the CML under a microscope system reveals a good optical focusing ability. The proposed method offers a practical route toward the manufacture of CML on hard brittle materials.

Design and application of a spherical aberration free continuous zoom liquid-filled micro-cylindrical lenses system

A zoom system named liquid-filled micro-cylindrical lenses integrating a capillary and a biconvex micro-cylindrical lens in a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) substrate is designed, which can achieve continuous changed focal length from 2.675 to 9.012 mm by injecting variable concentrations of glycerol aqueous solution into the capillary. The aberration fan diagrams, root mean square spot radius, peak-to-valley wavefront aberration, and modulation transfer function curves at different zoom configurations of the liquid-filled micro-cylindrical lenses are all analyzed, showing good imaging quality over the whole focal length range. And an anamorphic zoom system for uniform collimated beam is designed putting such two PDMS substrates similar as the Kepler telescope structure. The anamorphic system can realize the zoom shaping function with 1:2 to 2:1 aspect ratio beam conversion without machine movement along optical axis and with no significant aberration. The introduced zoom system is characterized by high image quality, small volume, and a simple and stable structure, providing a design idea for cylindrical lenses with variable focal length.

Fabrication of Cylindrical Microlens Array on RB-SiC Moulds by Precision Grinding with MAWJ-Textured Diamond Wheels

Cylindrical microlens array (CMA) is applied widely in imaging, sensing, and laser machining fields. Among the many techniques for machining CMA, moulding is considered a mass-production method with low-cost and good accuracy. Aimed at the present problems in the machining of CMA moulds, which include low processing efficiency and the prediction of the surface topography, this paper focused on the fabrication of CMA on RB-SiC moulds by precision grinding with micro-abrasive water jet (MAWJ) textured diamond wheels. The combined rough–fine grinding strategy for ceramic mould materials was proposed. The grinding experiments of CMA were carried out. The ultra-precision grinding method was optimized to obtain high shape accuracy and a high-quality surface of RB-SiC moulds. It was found that by using MAWJ-textured diamond wheels, the profile error in the peak-to-valley value (PV) of the CMA moulds can be further reduced to 6.7 μm by using the combined rough–fine strategy grinding process.

Microlens-assisted microscopy for biology and medicine.

The addition of dielectric transparent microlens in the optical scheme is an effective and at the same time simple and inexpensive way to increase the resolution of a light microscope. For these purposes, spherical and cylindrical microlenses with a diameter of 1-100 μm are usually used. The microlens focuses the light into a narrow beam called a photonic nanojet. An enlarged virtual image is formed, which is captured by the objective of the light microscope. In addition to microscopy, the microlenses are successfully applied to amplify optical signals, increase the trapping force of optical tweezers and are used in microsurgery. This review considers the design and principle of microlens-assisted microscopes. Taking into account the advantages of the super-resolution optical methods for research in life science, the examples of the use of the microlenses in biomedical practice are discussed in detail.

The Application of the Combination of Virtual and Reality in the Film Space Performance

In order to improve the effect of film space performance, this paper applies the combination of virtual and reality to the film space performance processing. Moreover, this paper analyzes the light field distribution of the three-dimensional object in space, and modulates the projected image projected on it with the spectral characteristics of the optical screen to finally restore the light field of the original object. In addition, this paper uses the multi-projection method to study the recovery process of the cylindrical microlens array screen to the light field, and divides and reorganizes the multi-view image of the scene shot by the camera array to obtain the correct projected image. Finally, this paper applies the space processing algorithm based on the combination of virtual and reality to the film space performance processing, and uses experimental research to verify the reliability of the method proposed in this paper.

Fabrication of cylindrical microlens array using rotatable multi-arrayed needle coating module for light out-coupling of OLEDs

We have performed coatings of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) using a rotatable multi-arrayed needle coating module to achieve high-density and high-aspect-ratio cylindrical microlens arrays (C-MLAs) for potential applications in organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). It is shown that high-density C-MLAs can be fabricated by rotating the coating module in such a way that the spacing between microlenses can be reduced (tuned). To enhance the aspect ratio of C-MLAs, we have analyzed the coating behaviors by varying the material parameters such as the molecular weight of PMMA, solute concentration, and wettability of the PMMA solution. It is demonstrated that high-aspect-ratio C-MLAs can be achieved using a coating solution with a small amount of a hydrophobic solvent, in which a high concentration of low-molecular-weight PMMA is dissolved. To further enhance the aspect ratio, we have come up with a new process method; repetitive coating and pre-drying treatment in ambient air. Such a repetitive coating method is shown to boost the microlens thickness without a much compromise on the microlens width. With this scheme, we have fabricated the C-MLA with the average thickness of 22.6 μm and width of 125 μm (aspect ratio as high as 0.18) at a coating velocity of 3 mm/s. The light out-coupling efficiency of OLED with the C-MLA increases by 20%, which is in good agreement with the result by ray tracing simulations.

Preparation method of silicon-based aspheric cylindrical microlens array

Preparation method of silicon-based aspheric cylindrical microlens array

Effect of misalignment on coupling efficiency in laser diode to single-mode circular core graded-index fiber coupling via cylindrical microlens on the fiber tip

Abstract We report here the first theoretical prediction of coupling efficiency of the laser diode to single-mode graded-index fiber coupling via cylindrical microlens on the tip of the fiber in presence of possible transverse and angular mismatches. Moderately efficient cylindrical microlens on the fiber is easily fabricable and graded-index fiber has less sensitivity to macro as well as micro bending. Thus this coupling device emerges as a potential candidate in the field of coupling optics. The analysis takes into consideration the allowable aperture provided by cylindrical microlens. Further, we shall consider here the coupling in the vertical plane only since the coupling in the horizontal plane has poor performance. Using the relevant ABCD matrix of refraction for a cylindrical lens in the vertical plane, we prescribe analytical expressions of the coupling efficiencies in presence of said kinds of misalignments. In our analysis, we use Gaussian field distribution for both the laser and fiber fields. We carry on our investigation for two commonly used wavelengths namely 1.3 and 1.5 µm. As an example of graded-index fiber, we use some typical step, parabolic, and triangular index fibers in our study. The execution of the prescribed formulations involves little computation. Thus the evaluation of the concerned coupling efficiencies is very much user friendly. The present analysis surfaces the tolerance factors of the coupling devices. Accordingly, the results will prove beneficial to designers and packagers in respect of the design of such coupler involving cylindrical microlens in the field of optimum launch optics.

3D Printing of a PDMS Cylindrical Microlens Array with 100% Fill-Factor.

Cylindrical microlens arrays (CMLAs) play a key role in many optoelectronic devices, and 100% fill-factor CMLAs also have the advantage of improving the signal-to-noise ratio and avoiding stray-light effects. However, the existing preparation technologies are complicated and costly, which are not suitable for mass production. Herein, we propose a simple, efficient, and low-cost manufacturing method for CMLAs with a high fill-factor via the electric-field-driven (EFD) microscale 3D printing of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). By adjusting the printing parameters, the profile and the fill-factor of the CMLAs can be controlled to improve their optical performance. The optical performance test results show that the printed PDMS CMLAs have good image-projecting and light-diffraction properties. Using the two printing modes of this EFD microscale 3D-printing technology, a cylindrical dual-microlens array with a double-focusing function is simply prepared. At the same time, we print a series of specially shaped microlenses, proving the flexible manufacturing capabilities of this technology. The results show that the prepared CMLAs have good morphology and optical properties. The proposed method may provide a viable route for manufacturing large-area CMLAs with 100% fill-factor in a very simple, efficient, and low-cost manner.