Title :
Electrodispensing of Microspheroids for Lateral Refractive and Reflective Photonic Elements
Author :
Born, B. ; Landry, E.L. ; Holzman, J.F.
Author_Institution :
Sch. of Eng., Univ. of British Columbia, Kelowna, BC, Canada
Abstract :
An electrodispensing fabrication process is introduced in this work for the fabrication of microspheroid photonic elements. The fabrication process is suitable for in situ patterning of microdroplet spheroids whose optical responses can be tailored for use in on-chip focusing or retroreflecting. Theoretical ray-based and wave-based analyses are used to characterize the optical responses of these microspheroid systems. Design-based details are extracted from these theoretical conclusions, and the electrodispensing fabrication process needed to pattern the structures is presented. Polymer microspheroids with diameters down to 150 μm and contact angles up to 160° are fabricated, and the focusing/retroreflecting characteristics of these structures are experimentally characterized.
Keywords :
contact angle; micro-optics; optical elements; optical fabrication; optical focusing; optical polymers; reflectivity; refractive index; contact angle; electrodispensing fabrication; focusing characteristics; lateral reflective photonic elements; lateral refractive photonic elements; microdroplet spheroids; microspheroid photonic elements; polymer; ray-based analysis; retroreflecting characteristics; size 150 mum; wave-based analysis; Fabrication; Optical reflection; Optical refraction; Polymers; System-on-a-chip; Photonic integrated circuits, light deflectors, optical device fabrication, optical refraction, optical reflection, optical polymers;
Journal_Title :
Photonics Journal, IEEE
DOI :
10.1109/JPHOT.2010.2076800
