Silicone microlenses and interference gratings

Interference gratings, plano-convex microlenses, and spherical microlenses have been made in silicone. Lenses were fabricated by the melting method. Two substrates have been tried: glass and Teflon. The latter substrate lets us fabricate low-f-number lenses. We made spherical microlenses by placing pieces of silicone near a thermal source and studied resolution of the lenses by investigating the images they gave of a test chart. We made low-spatial-frequency gratings by recording interference patterns and studied parameters involved in the recording. A study of the profile of the gratings and lenses was done with a mechanical surface analyzer.     

Relief optical microelements fabricated with dichromated gelatin

Relief microlenses and micromirrors are fabricated in dichromated gelatin layers. Microelements typically have diameters of approximately a few hundred micrometers and have focal distances ranging from 4 to 15 mm.     

Refractive sapphire microlenses fabricated by chlorine-based inductively coupled plasma etching

We have fabricated refractive sapphire microlenses and characterized their properties for what we believe to be the first time. We use thermally reflown photoresist lenslet patterns as a mask for chlorine-based dry etch of sapphire. Pattern transfer to the mechanically hard and chemically inert sapphire substrate is made possible by an inductively coupled plasma etch system that supplies a high-density plasma gas. Processed sapphire microlenses exhibit properties close to the ideal and operate nearly in the diffraction limit.     

Rod and spherical silica microlenses fabricated by CO2 laser melting

The fabrication and testing of glass microlenses with rod and spherical shapes are described. The sizes of the lenses range from tens of micrometers to several millimeters. The surfaces of the lenses were fabricated by the melting method. These surfaces have been studied by several methods. The theoretical behavior of the lenses was investigated by ray tracing. Some applications of the lenses are presented.     

Micromirrors and microlenses fabricated on polymer materials by means of infrared radiation

A simple method for fabricating micromirrors and microlenses on polymer substrates is presented. Microelements with diameters of approximately several hundred micrometers and f numbers ranging from 3 to 11 have been produced.     

Waveguide analysis of organic light-emitting diodes fabricated on surfaces with wavelength-scale periodic gratings

Numerical techniques for the analysis of multilayer waveguide structures were used to study the modes that exist in organic light-emitting diode (OLED) devices. The analysis revealed that waveguide modes of the OLED structure could be grouped, according to the behavior of modal-field profiles in the air cover and the glass substrate, into one of four different "families": (i) bound mode, (ii) semibound modes, (iii) leaky modes, and (iv) nonphysical modes. Four different OLED samples were fabricated on glass substrates on which photoresist gratings had been previously formed. The theory was used to compute the angles at which light from these devices should exit into the air. Theory and data agreed well for the semibound modes for all samples; however, they did not agree so well for the leaky modes. Further investigation revealed that better agreement between theory and data could be obtained with these modes being analyzed as Fabry-Perot cavity modes. The theoretical relation between leaky waveguide modes and Fabry-Perot cavity modes is discussed.     

Index-distributed planar microlenses for three-dimensional micro-optics fabricated by silver-sodium ion exchange in BGG35 substrates

Fabrication of planar microlens arrays by silver-sodium ion exchange is possible by using a new glass type, optimized for this technology. Because of its nonlinear diffusion response it is well suited to the fabrication of microlens arrays. We show that the diffusion coefficient can be described theoretically by an exponential concentration dependence. The parameters of the planar microlenses are measured interferometrically and by imaging experiments. Because of the specific index distribution, new evaluation techniques for the determination of lens parameters from interferometric measurements have been applied. We also present a simple model that relates the achievable lens parameters to the diffusion conditions.     

Subwavelength surface-relief gratings fabricated by microcontact printing of self-assembled monolayers

We have designed and tested subwavelength diffractive optical elements consisting of surface-relief gratings made by microcontact printing of self-assembled monolayers. The first device is a beam deflector for 1.55-mum operation consisting of a surface-relief grating made up of eight pillars over one period (9.3 mum) of the grating. The widths of the pillars vary to approximate a linear phase profile within each grating period. The second device is a quarter-wave plate for 632.8-nm operation consisting of a subwavelength surface-relief grating with a 300-nm period and 58% duty cycle.     

Diffraction gratings of photosensitive ZrO2 gel films fabricated with the two-ultraviolet-beam interference method

Photosensitive ZrO(2) gel films were patterned with a two-beam interference method by use of a 325-nm-wavelength He-Cd laser for the first time to our knowledge. The ZrO(2) gel films were prepared from Zr(O-n-C(4)H(9))(4) chemically modified with benzoylacetone. We fabricated uniform gratings with a 0.5-mum period on Si or SiO(2) substrates by etching the gel films in ethyl alcohol after UV irradiation. A maximum diffraction efficiency of 28% was attained with the grating fabricated on Si substrate under a Littrow mounting condition by use of a 633-nm-wavelength He-Ne laser. Blazed gratings could also be fabricated.     

Theoretical analysis of confocal microscopy with microlenses

Scanning confocal microscopy is well established and applied frequently in biomedical science and more recently in engineering disciplines. For technical applications a confocal principle based on microlens arrays was developed. The principle permits a high depth resolution on a large field. A theoretical analysis of this principle together with some experimental results are presented.     

Surface relief gratings in AsSe glass fabricated under 800-nm laser exposure

Chalcogenide glasses are materials of interest for optical devices in the IR region. Of the As-based glasses, the As_xS_1−x has received most of the attention, with a variety of processes and devices being studied and demonstrated. In the present work we explored the use of readily available 800-nm laser sources for fabricating surface gratings in As_xSe_1−x glass. We demonstrate for the first time, to the best of our knowledge, surface relief gratings written using continuous-wave 800-nm laser light in AsSe. Such structures can be enhanced to enable short-period reflectors in AsSe-based waveguide and fiber devices.     

Variations of the growth of harmonic reflections in fiber Bragg gratings fabricated using phase masks

The growth of reflectance peaks from optical fiber Bragg gratings has been studied to determine the relative importance of grating features when writing with the phase-mask technique. Measurements of spectra for two different fiber types using two distinct phase masks allowed the contribution from grating features of half the phase-mask periodicity and of the phase-mask periodicity at the Bragg wavelength to be determined. The dominance of the latter periodicity was ascribed to either the small fiber core diameter that limited the extent of the Talbot diffraction pattern, or the enhanced ±2 diffraction orders of a custom-made phase mask used.     

Propagation loss and birefringence properties around 1.55 μm of polymeric optical waveguides fabricated with cross-linked silicone

We newly synthesized cross-linked silicone from methyl and deuterated phenyl (d-phenyl) groups in various amounts and used the resultant polymers to fabricate single-mode optical waveguides. We measured the losses and birefringence of the waveguides by the cutback method and Senalmont ellipsometry, respectively. The propagation loss decreased as we increased the d-phenyl content. The propagation loss was 0.23 dB/cm at 1.55 μm for a waveguide fabricated using cross-linked silicone with a 95-mol.% d-phenyl content. In contrast, the birefringence increased with increasing d-phenyl content. This indicates that the increase in phenyl content influences the orientation of optically anisotropic phenyl groups in the film, resulting in a birefringence increase. The birefringence value was 2.0×10⁻⁴ for a waveguide fabricated from cross-linked silicone with a 27-mol.% d-phenyl content.     

Direct writing of microlenses in polycarbonate with excimer laser ablation

A method for fabricating microlenses in polycarbonate material is reported. Using a direct-write technique based on scanning excimer laser ablation with a circular beam, we can etch an arbitrary shape in the polymer material. The beam is obtained by imaging a circular aperture onto the polymer surface, and scanning is realized by the translation stage carrying the sample, which makes successive contours with well-chosen diameters and scan velocities. Afterward, to smooth the ablated surface and release it from debris, a large beam aperture covering the full lens area is used to ablate the lens deeper into the substrate. The fabrication process and the characterization method are described, including calculation of the contour set for a desired lens shape. The optical performance is evaluated by Mach-Zehnder interferometry, showing that aberrations below lambda/10 are possible for slow lenses.     

Dynamic holographic gratings with photoresist

The theoretical development of dynamic holographic gratings with piezoelectric crystals is presented. A thin layer of photoresist is applied over the surface of the piezoelectric crystal. A holographic grating was recorded over the photoresist-piezo device in such a way that when it is activated the changes in its dimensions produce a geometrical change in the grooves of the grating. Hence the initial diffraction pattern created may be dynamically modified.     

Microspectrometer with slab-waveguide transmission gratings

An integrated transmission diffraction grating in a planar optical waveguide is presented for broadband spectroscopic analysis of liquids and gases. Silicon oxynitride slab waveguides on silicon substrates with low optical loss in the visible range are combined with a phase transmission grating exhibiting a blaze effect at 500 nm to achieve high-efficiency diffraction and high spectral dispersion. Collimated white light propagates through the waveguide and couples into air at a stepped formed planar grating. The beams of each adjacent step interfere constructively at the focal line of a cylindrical lens, its focal line positioned perpendicular to the waveguide plane. We used a common silicon photodiode array to detect the spectral data. Our approach is to develop a compact and economic spectrometer without moving parts that can be applied for UV-visible analysis and near-infrared industrial process control as well.     

Collimation testing with circular gratings

We investigate the testing of collimation by Talbot interferometry with circular gratings. Circular gratings are immune to misalignment owing to rigid body rotations in a plane perpendicular to the optic axis. Experimental results of the investigation are presented, and they are in good agreement with the theoretical predictions. Experimental results verify that collimation testing with circular gratings can be superior to that with linear dual-field gratings.     

AFM observation of surface topography of fibre Bragg gratings fabricated in germanium–boron codoped fibres and hydrogen-loaded fibres

This paper reports the measurement of the surface topology of optical fibres containing a fibre Bragg grating (FBG) using an atomic force microscope (AFM). The AFM observation was made on FBGs fabricated via the phase mask technique in germanium–boron codoped optical fibres, in hydrogen-loaded germanium–boron codoped fibres and in standard telecommunications optical fibres. The surface images reveal that a spatial corrugation pattern was induced by the UV-irradiation, with a period that is half of the period of the phase mask. This UV-induced surface structure was found only on the side of the fibre facing towards the incident UV-irradiation and did not appear on the rear surface. The AFM probe scanned a 10×10 μm² surface area at seven sites along the 6.0 mm length of fibre that was exposed to the UV-irradiation. The amplitude of the spatial corrugation pattern observed on the AFM image was quantified for each site. It was found that the amplitude in a range of 0.7–3.2 nm was a function of UV-laser intensity distribution and the type of fibre. Hydrogen loaded optical fibres exhibited a corrugation with an amplitude twice as large as that observed in the Ge–B doped fibres that were not hydrogen-loaded. This correlates with the increase in photosensitivity produced by the hydrogen loading. A similar UV-induced spatial corrugation was also observed on standard telecom fibres, but without inducing the refractive index change in the fibre core. The observation of surface topology provides an insight into the structural changes induced during FBG fabrication. UV-induced densification and laser ablation could account for the formation of the surface troughs.     

Self-imaging of gratings with rough strips

We analyze the self-imaging process produced by a transmission grating whose strips present two different roughness levels. This kind of grating periodically modulates the transmitted light owing only to the different microtopographic properties of the strips. In spite of the fact that the grating is not purely periodic, it produces a kind of self-image at Talbot distances. These self-images gradually appear as light propagates, but they are not present just after the grating, as occurs in amplitude or phase gratings. There exists a distance from the grating, which depends on the stochastic properties of roughness, from which the contrast of the self-images becomes stable. Important cases are analyzed in detail, such as low- and high-roughness limits. We assume for the calculations that the grating can be used in a mobile system. Simulations using the Rayleigh-Sommerfeld regime have been performed, which confirm the validity of the theoretical approach proposed in this work.