Fabrication and characterization of polydimethylsiloxane concave microlens array

Concave microlens array is fabricated with PDMS (polydimethylsiloxane) material. Resist thermal reflow method and reverse pattern replication method are employed to fabricate the concave microlens array. The optical performance of the PDMS concave microlens array is analyzed with ray-trace method. Profile of the PDMS concave microlens array is observed by metallographic microscope and Talystep. It is indicated by the results that the surface profile of the PDMS concave microlens array is clear and distinct. Optical properties are also tested with Beamprofiler system. The shine spots on the focal plane of the microscope objective are of highly uniformity, and essentially coincide well with the simulation result. The PDMS concave microlens array has potential application in many optoelectronic devices, such as diffusers and scanners.     

非球面液滴微透镜固化控制和焦斑测量研究

利用电场改变液滴透镜的面形得到非球面,并实时检测其面形和焦斑图像,在适当的时候用紫外光固化液滴制作具有良好光学性能的非球面微透镜.比较了非球面液滴微透镜在固化前后面形、焦斑的变化和对透镜性能的影响,讨论了液滴透镜在固化过程中变形的机理和相应的解决方法.用分辨率50 nm的光斑探针扫描仪精确测量了固化后的非球面微透镜的聚焦光斑,测得了光斑轴向分布曲线和均方根直径3.384μm的聚焦光斑,经图像处理计算了透镜的点扩散函数和光学传递函数,评价了所制作的非球面微透镜的聚光和成像能力,并给出了透镜的实际成像图像,对于完善高品质非球面微透镜及其阵列的制作工艺具有重要意义.     

用按需滴定技术制备聚合物微透镜阵列

采用高分子聚合物-单体混合溶液按需滴定-原位热聚合的新方法制作折射微透镜及其阵列.制备透镜的主要材料是甲基丙烯酸甲酯及其聚合物.制备的微透镜直径在1 mm～3 mm范围内,矢高为100 μm～400 μm,透镜焦距在1 mm～4 mm之间.所得微透镜在波长λ=1.55 μm处有很好的光学透过率(90%),适于作光通信耦合器件.用AFM-Ⅱ型原子力显微镜测得微透镜阵列的表面粗糙度Ra约等于0.9 nm,并通过液体的表面张力理论分析了微透镜的形成机理.     

用于红外焦平面的正方形孔径球面微透镜阵列研究

针对目前红外焦平面光敏阵列中存在的占空比小、光能利用率低的实际问题,展开了正方形孔径球面微透镜阵列制作及其与红外焦平面阵列集成应用的研究.本文从红外焦平面光敏阵列特点入手,对比分析了正方形孔径相比于传统圆形孔径微透镜阵列在光能利用上的优势.提出正方形孔径微透镜阵列激光直写变剂量曝光制作技术,建立光刻胶曝光数学模型和正方形球面微透镜面型函数,以此为基础,编制直写设备变剂量曝光控制软件;利用长春理工大的学复合坐标激光直写系统和等离子刻蚀机进行相关工艺实验,制作了阵列256×256、单元尺寸40×40μm2、球面半径60μm、单元间距1μm的红外石英微透镜阵列;并将其与相应阵列的碲-镉-汞红外光敏阵列进行集成.结果表明:微透镜的占空比达到95%,红外焦平面光能利用率从原来的60%提高到90%以上.由此得出结论:变剂量曝光制作微透镜技术是可行的,正方形孔径球面微透镜阵列代替圆形孔径微透镜阵列,对于提高红外探测器的灵敏度、信噪比、分辨率等性能具备明显优势.     

用于红外焦平面的正方形孔径球面微透镜阵列研究

针对目前红外焦平面光敏阵列中存在的占空比小、光能利用率低的实际问题,展开了正方形孔径球面微透镜阵列制作及其与红外焦平面阵列集成应用的研究.本文从红外焦平面光敏阵列特点入手,对比分析了正方形孔径相比于传统圆形孔径微透镜阵列在光能利用上的优势.提出正方形孔径微透镜阵列激光直写变剂量曝光制作技术,建立光刻胶曝光数学模型和正方形球面微透镜面型函数,以此为基础,编制直写设备变剂量曝光控制软件;利用长春理工大的学复合坐标激光直写系统和等离子刻蚀机进行相关工艺实验,制作了阵列256×256、单元尺寸40×40 μm²、球面半径60 μm、单元间距1 μm的红外石英微透镜阵列;并将其与相应阵列的碲-镉-汞红外光敏阵列进行集成.结果表明:微透镜的占空比达到95%,红外焦平面光能利用率从原来的60%提高到90% 以上.由此得出结论:变剂量曝光制作微透镜技术是可行的,正方形孔径球面微透镜阵列代替圆形孔径微透镜阵列,对于提高红外探测器的灵敏度、信噪比、分辨率等性能具备明显优势.     

Electrically controllable microlens array fabricated by anisotropic phase separation from liquid-crystal and polymer composite materials

Anisotropic phase separation has been used to fabricate an electrically switchable microlens array from nematic liquid crystals. Nematic liquid-crystal-based microlens arrays have been built with diameters of approximately 400 microm and natural focal lengths as small as 1.6 mm. The focal length of each microlens in the array can be changed in milliseconds by an applied electric field. These devices, which have no internal substructures to scatter light, offer higher efficiency and greater light throughput than polymer dispersed devices.     

Research on micro-optical lenses fabrication technology

We present a detail investigation on the development of a series of gradient index (GRIN) optical glass microlens and polymer microlens and microlens arrays in our laboratory in recent years. The special glass material GRIN lenses have been fabricated mainly by using ion-exchange technology, which are applied to construct micro-optic devices and other applications. On one hand, we demonstrated the light propagation and imaging properties of GRIN lenses and the results analyzed. On the other hand, we have explored a drop-on-demand ink-jet printing method to produce microlens array using nano-scale polymer droplets involved with a uniform ultraviolet light and heat solidifying process. The experimental setup for manufacturing polymer microlens array and the performance of refractive microlens elements are also given in this paper.     

Diffractive Microlens Array Monolithic Integration with PtSi Focal Plane array

Diffractive microlens arrays can completely collect the light at the focal plane and concentrate it into a smaller spot size on the detector plane, the photodetector area can be substantially reduced. Increased gamma radiation hardening and noise reduction result from the decrease in photodetector sensitive area. The diffractive microlens arrays have been designed by considering the correlative optical and processing parameters for PtSi focal plane array. They have been fabricated on the backside of PtSi focal plane array chip by successive photolithography and Ar⁺ ion-beam-etching technique. The alignment of microlens array with PtSi focal plane array was completed by a backside aligner with IR light source. The practical processes and fabrication method are discussed. The performance parameters of PtSi FPA with diffractive microlens array are presented.     

Hybrid Integration Between Long Focus Microlens Array and IR Detector Array

A special method, named step simulation method, is proposed for fabricating Si microlens array to improve the performance of infrared focal plane array (IR FPA). The focus length of rectangle-based multistep microlens array with element dimension of 40 µm×30 µm is 885.4 µm by the method, which is much longer than the focus length of microlens array fabricated by conventional Fresnel binary optics technique., The large-scale 256×256 element microlens array is hybridintegrated with the PtSi Schottky-barrier IR FPA by optical adhesive. The test results show that diffractive spot size of the microlens is 17 µm×15 µm and the average optical response of the IR FPA is increased by a factor of 2.4.     

Tunable protein microlens array

Based on natural protein materials, a series of lenses with different heights and focal lengths were assembled on glass substrates by femtosecond laser non-contact, masking, and cold processing. This lens array itself possesses unique and characteristic optical performance in three-dimensional parallel imaging and bending imaging. What is more profound is that by using equilibrium swelling of protein-hydrogel, once the lens array was placed in a liquid environment, with the change of ion concentration(e.g., pH), the refractive index and curvature of the protein-hydrogel would change, which leads to the flex of the focal plane of the lens, finally realizing the dynamical tunability of a protein microlens. These smart stress devices may have great potential in optical biosensing and microfluidic chip integration fields.     

Broadband dispersion characteristics of diffractive microlenses based on the finite-difference time-domain method

The broadband dispersion characteristics of diffractive microlenses are studied using the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method. The distributions of the diffracted electric fields obtained through a diffractive microlens are presented for illumination wavelengths ranging from 0.35 to 1.30 μm, along with the corresponding broadband dispersion curves. It is shown that both the principal focal length and the diffracted order of the principal focal point are dependent on the illumination wavelengths. The broadband dispersion characteristics of a diffractive microlens may be used to optimise light coupling for a broadband optical fibre source.     

Monolithic integration technique for microlens arrays with infrared focal plane arrays

Based on scalar diffraction theory, 8-phase-level 256×290 element diffractive microlens arrays with lenslet dimension of 50×33 μm² have been fabricated on the back side of PtSi infrared focal plane arrays. The design and fabrication process are discussed. The measurement results indicate that the imaging quality has been greatly improved and the ratio of the signal-to-noise of the infrared focal plane array integration with microlens array is increased by a factor of 2.5.     

紫外衍射微透镜阵列的设计与制备

为了提高紫外焦平面阵列的填充因子,可以通过微透镜阵列与紫外焦平面阵列的集成,以改善紫外焦平面阵列的探测性能。根据标量衍射理论设计了用于日盲型紫外焦平面阵列的128×128衍射微透镜阵列,其工作中心波长为350nm,单元透镜F数为F/3.56。采用组合多层镀膜与剥离的工艺方法制备了128×128衍射微透镜阵列,对具体的工艺流程和制备误差进行了分析,测量了衍射微透镜阵列的光学性能。实验结果表明:衍射微透镜阵列的衍射效率为88%,与理论值95%有偏差,制备误差主要来自对准误差和线宽误差。紫外衍射微透镜阵列具有均匀的焦斑分布,与紫外焦平面阵列单片集成能较好地改善器件的整体性能。     

中波红外微型静态傅里叶变换光谱仪的设计与分析

提出一种基于微光学元件的空间调制微型傅里叶变换红外光谱仪,通过引入红外微结构衍射光学元件、多级微反射镜和微透镜阵列,实现仪器的微型化.介绍了微型傅里叶变换红外光谱仪的结构及基本原理,分析了微型准直系统和聚焦耦合光学系统的设计理论,研究了单片折衍混合准直透镜的残存像差、衍射面的衍射效率、多级微反射镜的衍射、微透镜阵列的孔径衍射和中继系统的轴向装配误差对光谱复原的影响.最后,对中波红外微型傅里叶变换光谱仪进行了建模仿真,得到的复原光谱与理想的光谱曲线比较符合,实际的光谱复原误差为2.89%.该中波红外微型静态傅里叶变换光谱仪无可动部件,且采用了微光学元件取代了传统的红外镜头,不仅稳定性良好,而且体积小、重量轻,有利于在线监测应用.     

Multifocal optical-resolution photoacoustic microscopy in vivo

Although ultrasound arrays have been exploited in photoacoustic imaging to improve imaging speed, ultrasound-array-based optical-resolution photoacoustic microscopy (OR-PAM) has never been achieved previously to our knowledge. Here we present our development of multifocal OR-PAM using a microlens array for optical illumination and an ultrasound array for photoacoustic detection. Our system is capable of imaging hemoglobin concentration and oxygenation in individual microvessels in vivo at high speed. Compared with a single focus, multiple foci reduce the scanning load and increase the imaging speed significantly. The current multifocal system can acquire 1000 × 500 × 200 voxels at ~10 μm lateral resolution within 4 min.     

Design, characterization and evaluation of high performance 2.8 μm pitch zero space microlens

Utilization of the zero space microlens technology can significantly improve the image quality of CMOS sensors. In this study, we present systematical data of design, simulation, characterization and silicon level testing during the initial stage of development of the zero space microlens based CMOS imaging technology. The optimal structure of zero space microlens was obtained based on the simulation results. Sample CMOS image sensors with a 2.8 μm pitch zero space microlens above each pixel have been successfully fabricated based on 0.18 μm CMOS technology. Using AFM (atomic force microscopy) and sensor test platform, the structural and optical properties of both space microlens and zero space microlens have been characterized, and their performances have been evaluated respectively. Both AFM results and silicon tests have demonstrated that the 2.8 μm pitch zero space microlens can remarkably improve the pixel sensitivity and pixel array non-uniformity, and reduce the optical crosstalk. Compared to the space 2.8 μm square microlens, the zero space microlens shows 78.83% (68.42% and 75.93%) enhancement of photosensitivity and increment of pixel non-uniformity up to 20% (45.6% and 30.77%) for R (G and B), and reduction of the optical crosstalk up to 44.49%, under 45 lux light and 30 ms exposure time. In addition, the zero space microlens has also shown a great potential in further reducing pixel size down to less than 2.8 μm and meanwhile improving imaging performance of CMOS image sensors.     

基于微透镜阵列匀束的激光二极管面阵抽运耦合系统分析

为了提升高功率固体激光器中激光二极管(LD)面阵抽运场性能,采用几何光学和数理统计分析的方法,建立了基于微透镜阵列匀束的LD面阵抽运耦合系统的数学与物理模型,对微透镜阵列参数与最终耦合输出抽运场参数之间的关系进行分析,明确了微透镜单元F数、微透镜通光单元数以及微透镜阵列空间周期参数的设计原则.经实验测试,优化设计完成的LD面阵抽运耦合系统光场不均匀度为7.9%,耦合效率为90.7%.     

Optical readout method based on a narrow-strip filter for microcantilever array sensing

An effective optical readout approach based on a narrow-strip filter is presented to detect bends of a bimaterial microcantilever focal plane array, by which light intensity of the image plane (CCD image sensor plane) can be increased and its uniformity on the image plane effectively enhanced. It reduces the noise equivalent temperature difference of the microcantilever focal plane array IR imaging system and improves uniformity of the IR images. A comparative experiment is designed to verify effectiveness. The experimental results show that the proposed method has advantages of preferable effect.     

Lens Sag Measurement of Microlens Array Using Optical Interferometric Microscope

This study attempted to develop a detection system for lens sag of the microlens array in real time using an optical automatic inspection framework to link with the computer through a camera. An image processing technique was applied to detect the spherical microlens array, and then, the results were compared.The system light source used laser light and applied CCD to collocate with the microscope array to form an automatic optical detection system for an optical interferometric microscope. It applied the principle of the Fizeau interferometer, illuminated the surface of microlens array, and formed the phase difference required by the interference of two lights through the laser light reflected by the reference plane and the surface of the microlens array, thus, forming an interference fringe.When the sag of the microlens was much longer than the wave length of the detection light source, the fringe would be densely distributed, thus, only a few central fringes were clear in the microscopic image. An image processing method was used to search the center of the interference fringe and a creative algorithm was utilized to obtain the lens sag of the microlens. As proved by the experiment, lens sag of 4 microlens arrays were detected in real time, with a minimum detection error of 0.08 μm, and a maximum detection error of 4 μm (error value 1 ~ 9%), according to different sample processes. This system featured a simple structure and is applicable to non-contact detection and detection of different-sized microlens arrays.     

基于微透镜阵列的LED光学性能

功率型发光二极管(LED)的发展迫切需要提高取光效率,基于微透镜阵列的二次光学设计是改善其取光效率的有效途径。建立了一种大功率LED的封装结构,二次光学设计采用了微透镜阵列技术,运用光线追踪法研究了这种封装结构的光学性能。分析结果表明:利用微透镜阵列技术能显著改善LED的光学性能,提高取光效率,能将LED的亮度衰减降低12%以上,得到了较好的效果。