Rapid prototyping of plastic optical fiber coupler

Rapid prototyping in photonics is a new research area which requires the development of both the optical product and tool for building the product. Plastic and polymer based optical products have high potential of being rapidly produced using rapid prototyping techniques. Plastic optical devices can be produced via multiple technology such as plastic injection molding, CNC milling, diamond turning, or casting. Subtractive and additive are the two main types of rapid prototyping techniques which can be applied in photonics devices. We have demonstrated both the subtractive based technique in particular CNC milling and additive based technique in particular 3D printing for the rapid prototyping of the plastic optical coupler. The result showed that 3D printing may be a promising technique for producing plastic-based optical device provided that optical quality based photopolymer could be developed and integrated with the system.