Maskless fabrication of micro-optical elements on the optical fiber tips

We present a simple and low-cost technique for fabrication of micro-photonic structures on the tip of optical fibers using maskless exposure system. The Digital Micromirror Device (DMD) based programmable maskless lithography system and thermal reflow process were employed to fabricate two-dimensional and three-dimensional microstructures. Based on this approach, various microstructures and Fresnel Zone Plate Lens were fabricated on the end facet of an optical fiber. The proposed fabrication technique can be extended to generate diffractive and refractive optical elements for medical endoscopy or fiber-based sensing applications with rapid and inexpensive manners.