Ultrafast Three-Dimensional Printing of Optically Smooth Microlens Arrays by Oscillation-Assisted Digital Light Processing
Citations Over TimeTop 10% of 2019 papers
Abstract
A microlens array has become an important micro-optics device in various applications. Compared with traditional manufacturing approaches, digital light processing (DLP)-based printing enables fabrication of complex three-dimensional (3D) geometries and is a possible manufacturing approach for microlens arrays. However, the nature of 3D printing objects by stacking successive 2D patterns formed by discrete pixels leads to coarse surface roughness and makes DLP-based printing unsuccessful in fabricating optical components. Here, we report an oscillation-assisted DLP-based printing approach for fabrication of microlens arrays. An optically smooth surface (about 1 nm surface roughness) is achieved by mechanical oscillation that eliminates the jagged surface formed by discrete pixels, and a 1-3 s single grayscale ultraviolet (UV) exposure that removes the staircase effect. Moreover, computationally designed grayscale UV patterns allow us to fabricate microlenses with various profiles. The proposed approach paves a way to 3D print optical components with high quality, fast speed, and vast flexibility.
Related Papers
- → Direct write of microlens array using digital projection photopolymerization(2008)52 cited
- → Development of a DLP 3D printer for orthodontic applications(2019)49 cited
- → The Fabrication of Micro Beam from Photopolymer by Digital Light Processing 3D Printing Technology(2020)31 cited
- → Development of Multi-Material DLP 3D Printer(2017)10 cited
- → Digital Light Processing (DLP) 3D Printing of Millimeter-Scale High-Aspect Ratio (HAR) Structures Exceeding 100:1(2020)8 cited