This PDF file contains the front matter associated with SPIE Proceedings Volume 9888, including the Title Page, Copyright information, Table of Contents, Introduction (if any), and Conference Committee listing.

The authors demonstrate a low cost direct process to directly print TiO₂ grating on both planar and non-conventional substrate such as cylinder components. A well collimated i-line source emitting at a 365nm wavelength illuminates a mono layer of 1μm diameter silica microspheres deposited on a photosensitive TiO₂-based sol-gel layer. No etching process is required since this layer is directly UV photo patternable like a negative photo-resist. Furthermore this thin layer offers interesting optical properties (high refractive index) and good mechanical and chemical stability. The paper describes the photochemistry of the TiO₂ sol-gel layer process, the modeling of the electric field distribution below the spheres during the illumination process and preliminary results of TiO₂ nanopillars of 200 nm diameter.

This paper, originally published on 27 April 2016, was replaced with a corrected/revised version on 8 June 2016. If you downloaded the original PDF but are unable to access the revision, please contact SPIE Digital Library Customer Service for assistance.

The purpose of wavelength-beam combining (WBC) is to improve the output power of a multi-wavelength laser system while maintaining the quality of the combined beam. This technique has been primarily proposed for industrial applications, such as metal cutting and soldering, which require optical peak power between kilowatts and megawatts. In order to replace the bulkier solid-state lasers, we propose to use the WBC technique for photoacoustic (PA) applications, where a multi-wavelength focused beam with optical peak power between hundreds of watts up to several kilowatts is necessary to penetrate deeply into biological tissues. In this work we present an analytical study about the coupling of light beams emitted by diode laser bars at 808 nm, 880 nm, 910 nm, 940 nm, and 980 nm into a < 600-μm core-diameter optical fiber for PA endoscopy. In order to achieve an efficient coupling it is necessary to collimate the beams in both fast and slow axes by means of cylindrical lenses and to use partial reflection mirrors at 45° tilt. We show an example of beam collimation using cylindrical lenses in both fast and slow axes. In a real PA scenario, the resulting beam should have a sufficient peak power to generate significant PA signals from a turbid tissue>.

Design and fabrication of a high efficiency phase mask have been performed for printing submicron period gratings along 8 mm diameter glass cylinders. In this article, the authors present the radial phase mask specially designed and manufactured for a cylindrical surface micro-structuring under UV photolithography. Its period is sub-micron (480 nm < Λ_PM < 720 nm). The authors describe then the phase mask based UV lithography set-up using the interference between the transmitted beams of +1 and -1 orders generated by the phase mask. Preliminary results of printed gratings on a cylinder are described on a sol-gel TiO₂ thin film layer, enabling direct photo patterning on functionalized layer. The feasibility of a grating printed with a period of Λ_cylin = 960 nm on an 8 mm diameter cylinder with this dedicated mask has been demonstrated.

The suitability of materials for deep ultraviolet (DUV) waveguides concerning transmittance, fabrication, and coupling properties is investigated and a fused silica core/ambient air cladding waveguide system is presented. This high refractive index contrast system has far better coupling efficiency especially for divergent light sources like LEDs and also a significantly smaller critical bending radius compared to conventional waveguide systems, as simulated by ray-tracing simulations. For the fabrication of 300-ffm-thick multimode waveguides a hydrouoric (HF) acid based wet etch process is compared to selective laser etching (SLE). In order to fabricate thick waveguides out of 300-ffm-thick silica wafers by HF etching, two masking materials, LPCVD silicon nitride and LPCVD poly silicon, are investigated. Due to thermal stress, the silicon nitride deposited wafers show cracks and even break. Using poly silicon as a masking material, no cracks are observed and deep etching in 50 wt% HF acid up to 180 min is performed. While the masked and unmasked silica surface is almost unchanged in terms of roughness, notching defects occur at the remaining polysilicon edge leading to jagged sidewalls. Using SLE, waveguides with high contour accuracy are fabricated and the DUV guiding properties are successfully demonstrated with propagation losses between 0.6 and 0:8 dB=mm. These values are currently limited by sidewall scattering losses.

We present a microfluidic chip in Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) for optical trapping of particles in an 80μm wide microchannel using two counterpropagating single-mode beams. The trapping fibers are separated from the sample fluid by 70μm thick polymer walls. We calculate the optical forces that act on particles flowing in the microchannel using wave optics in combination with non-sequential ray-tracing and further mathematical processing. We use a novel fabrication process that consists of a premilling step and ultraprecision diamond tooling for the manufacturing of the molds and double-sided hot embossing for replication, resulting in a robust microfluidic chip for optical trapping. In a proof-of-concept demonstration, we show the trapping capabilities of the hot embossed chip by trapping spherical beads with a diameter of 6μm, 8μm and 10μm and use the power spectrum analysis of the trapped particle displacements to characterize the trap strength.

We present Si microlenses fabricated using dry ICP plasma etching of silicon and thermal photoresist reflow. The process is insensitive to thermal reflow time and it can be easily incorporated into fabrication flows for complex optical systems. Using this process, we were able to fabricate microlenses with diameter of 150 μm, radius of curvature of 682 μm and with a surface roughness of only 25 nm.

The increasing demand for handheld systems for absorption spectroscopy has triggered the development of microspectrometers at various wavelength ranges. Several MEMS implementations of the light source, interferometer/optical filter, and detector have already been reported in the literature. However, the size of microspectrometers is still limited by the required absorption path length in the sample gas cell. This paper presents a compact MEMS linear-variable optical filter (LVOF) where the resonator cavity of the filter is also used as a sample gas cell to measure the absorption of methane at 3392nm wavelength. The physical resonator cavity length is elongated 62.2-fold, using multiple reflections from highly reflective Bragg mirrors to achieve a sufficiently long effective optical absorption path. Although the LVOF would in principle enable operation as a robust portable microspectrometer, here it is used in a miniaturized NDIR methane sensor for wavelength selection and calibration.

Raman spectroscopy is a powerful optical and non-destructive technique and a well-known method for analysis purposes, especially to determine the molecular fingerprint of substances. Traditionally, such analyses are done in a specialized lab, with considerable requirements in terms of equipment, time and manual sampling of substances of interest. In this paper we take a step from bulky Raman spectroscopy laboratory analyses towards lab-on-chip (LOC) analyses. We present an optofluidic lab-on-chip for confocal Raman spectroscopy, which can be used for the analysis of liquids. The confocal detection suppresses the unwanted background from the polymer material out of which the chip is fabricated. We design the free-form optical reflector using non-sequential ray-tracing combined with a mathematical code to simulate the Raman scattering behavior of the substance under test. We prototype the device in Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) by means of ultraprecision diamond tooling. In a proof-of-concept demonstration, we first show the confocal behavior of our Raman lab-on-chip system by measuring the Raman spectrum of ethanol. In a next step, we compare the Raman spectra measured in our lab-on-chip with spectra measured with a commercial Raman spectrometer. Finally, to calibrate the system we perform Raman measurements on urea solutions with different concentrations. We achieve a detection limit that corresponds to a noise equivalent concentration of 20mM. Apart from strongly reducing the background perturbations, our confocal Raman spectroscopy system has other advantages as well. The reflector design is robust from a mechanical point of view and has the potential for mass-manufacturing using hot embossing or injection molding.

Two new design concepts for all-polymer-based integrated optical Mach-Zehnder interferometers in foil as chemical or bio-chemical sensors are presented. Fabricated with hot-embossing and printing techniques, these all polymer optical components are designed for low-cost fabrication and yield highly sensitive response to external refractive index changes. Compared to traditional semiconductor based systems, these polymer sensors do not need the interaction window and do not require a cleanroom for fabrication. The optical response of the asymmetric interferometers to temperature variations is determined theoretically and compared for two designs. Using the designed asymmetric interferometer, a chemical micro-fluidic test system with temperature controller experimentally demonstrates the sensors’ temperature characteristics.

We present two ink-jet printable, optically active material systems that point towards flexible foil-based optical systems independent of any electrical elements or physical connections. The materials are based on a UV-curable monomer doped with europium and diphenylantracene, resulting in red (610 nm) and blue (430 nm) fluorescence excited by UV light. Additionally, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) is used to tune the viscosity to 10 mPas via a print-head temperature of 50 °C, as required by the ink-jet print-head. When illuminated with 1.5 W/cm², the measured intensity of the europium is in the range of 1 mW/cm². By printing these materials on PMMA foil, we can create fluorescent tracks with a feature size well below 100 μm that could serve as light sources within a planar optronic system.

Interference lithography (IL) is the best suited technology for the origination of large area master structures with high resolution. In prior works, we seamlessly pattern areas of up to 1.2 x 1.2 m² with periodic features, i.e. a diffraction grating with a period in the micron range. For this process we use an argon ion laser emitting at 363.8 nm. Thus, feasible periods are in the range of 100 μm to 200 nm. Edge-defined techniques or also called (self-aligned) double patterning processes can be used to double the spatial frequency of such structures. This way, we aim to reduce achievable periods further down to 100 nm. In order to replicate master structures, we make use of nanoimprint lithography (NIL) processes. In this work, we present results using IL as mastering and NIL as replication technology in the fields of photovoltaics as well as display and lighting applications. In photovoltaics different concepts like the micron-scale patterning of the front side as well as the realization of rear side diffraction gratings are presented. The benefit for each is shown on final device level. In the context of display and lighting applications, we realized various structures ranging from designed, symmetric or asymmetric, diffusers, antireflective and/or antiglare structures, polarization optical elements (wire grid polarizers), light guidance and light outcoupling structures.

In contrast to established semiconductor waveguide-based or glass fiber-based integrated optical sensors, polymerbased optical systems offer tunable material properties, such as refractive index or viscosity, and thus provide additional degrees of freedom for sensor design and fabrication. Of particular interest in sensing applications are fully-integrated optical waveguide-based temperature sensors. These typically rely on Bragg gratings which induce a periodic refractive index variation in the waveguide so that a resonant wavelength of the structure is reflected.^1,2 With broad-band excitation, a dip in the spectral output of the waveguide is thus generated at a precisely-defined wavelength. This resonant wavelength depends on the refractive index of the waveguide and the grating period, yet both of these quantities are temperature dependent by means of the thermo-optic effect (change in refractive index with temperature) and thermal expansion (change of the grating period with temperature). We show the design and fabrication of polymer waveguide-integrated temperature sensors based on Bragggratings, fabricated by replication technology on flexible PMMA foil substrates. The 175 μm thick foil serves as lower cladding for a polymeric waveguide fabricated from a custom-made UV-crosslinkable co-monomer composition. The fabrication of the grating structure includes a second replication step into a separate PMMA-foil. The dimensions of the Bragg-gratings are determined by simulations to set the bias point into the near infrared wavelength range, which allows Si-based detectors to be used. We present design considerations and performance data for the developed structures. The resulting sensor's signal is linear to temperature changes and shows a sensitivity of -306 nm/K, allowing high resolution temperature measurements.

It is known that cleaving an optical fiber introduces a number of irregularities and defects to the fiber’s end-face, such as hackles and shockwaves. These defects can act as failure initiators when stress is applied to the end-face. Given the fiber’s small diameter of 125 ffm, a large amount of mechanical stress can be expected to be applied on its end-face during the mating-demating cycle. In addition, a connector in a fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) network can be expected to be mated and demated more than 30 times during its lifetime for purposes such as testing, churning, or provisioning. For this reason, the performance of a connector that displays low optical loss when first installed can dramatically degrade after few mating-demating cycles and catastrophic connector failure due to end-face breakage is likely. We present plasma discharge shaping of cleaved fiber tips to strongly improve the endurance of the fibers to repeated mating-demating cycles. We quantify the dependency of the plasma-induced surface curvature of the fiber tip on the plasma duration and on the position of the fiber tip within the plasma cloud. Finally we present data showing the improved endurance of fibers that are exposed to plasma compared to conventional as-cleaved fibers.

With the demand for broadband connectivity on the rise due to various services like video-on-demand and cloud computing becoming more popular, the need for better connectivity infrastructure is high. The only future- proof option to supply this infrastructure is to deploy "fiber to the home" (FTTH) networks. One of the main difficulties with the deployment of FTTH is the vast amount of single-mode fiber (SMF) connections that need to be made. Hence there is a strong need for components which enable high performance, robust and easy-to- use SMF connectors. Since large-scale deployment is the goal, these components should be mass-producible at low cost. We discuss a rapid prototyping process on the basis of hot embossing replication of a self-centering alignment system (SCAS) based on three micro-springs, which can position a SMF independently of its diameter. This is beneficial since there is a fabrication tolerance of up to ±1 μm on a standard G.652 SMF's diameter that can lead to losses if the outer diameter is used as a reference for alignment. The SCAS is first prototyped with deep proton writing (DPW) in polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) after which it is glued to a copper substrate with an adhesive. Using an electroforming process, a nickel block is grown over the PMMA prototype followed by mechanical finishing to fabricate a structured nickel mould insert. Even though the mould insert shows non- ideal and rounded features it is used to create PMMA replicas of the SCAS by means of hot embossing. The SCAS possesses a central opening in which a bare SMF can be clamped, which is designed with a diameter of 121 μm. PMMA replicas are dimensionally characterized using a multisensor coordinate measurement machine and show a central opening diameter of 128.3 ± 2.8 μm. This should be compared to the central opening diameter of the DPW prototype used for mould formation which was measured to be 120.5 μm. This shows that the electroforming and subsequent replication process is possible for complex micro-scale components and could be accurate after optimisation. We characterized the sidewall roughness of PMMA replicas using a non- contact optical profiler, resulting in a root-mean-square roughness of 48 nm over an area of 63.7 μm×47.8 μm. This low sidewall roughness is especially important in the replication of high aspect ratio structures to facilitate demoulding since the sidewalls cause the most friction with the mould insert.

Spatial filtering techniques are important for improving the spatial quality of light beams. Photonic crystals (PhCs) with a selective spatial (angular) transmittance can also provide spatial filtering with the added benefit transversal symmetries, submillimeter dimensions and monolithic integration in other devices, such as micro-lasers or semiconductor lasers. Workable bandgap PhC configurations require a modulated refractive index with period lengths that are approximately less than the wavelength of radiation. This imposes technical limitations, whereby the available direct laser write (DLW) fabrication techniques are limited in resolution and refractive index depth. If, however, a deflection mechanism is chosen instead, a functional filter PhC can be produced that is operational in the visible wavelength regime. For deflection based PhCs glass is an attractive choice as it is highly stable medium. 2D and 3D PhC filter variations have already been produced on soda-lime glass. However, little is known about how to control the scattering of PhCs when approaching the smallest period values. Here we look into the internal structure of the initially symmetric geometry 2D PhCs and associating it with the resulting transmittance spectra. By varying the DLW fabrication beam parameters and scanning algorithms, we show that such PhCs contain layers that are comprised of semi-tilted structure voxels. We show the appearance of asymmetry can be compensated in order to circumvent some negative effects at the cost of potentially maximum scattering efficiency.

A reflective wave plate with subwavelength grating structure of the photoresist was fabricated using two-beam interference technology, and was then evaluated for phase retardation. Whereas the phase retardation of the transmission wave plate with 400 nm period, fill factor of 0.5, and 240 nm depth, respectively, was 15° at 632.8 nm wavelength, the phase retardation of the fabricated reflective element with 400 nm period, fill factor of 0.5, and 240 nm depth reached 29° for the reason that the optical length of the reflective one became twice as long as the transmissive one because of the use of reflection. By changing the period and depth to 285 nm and to 295 nm, respectively, the phase retardation of a reflective wave plate for 473 nm wavelength achieved 144° at the incident angle of 45°.

The aim is to develop a polymer layer which has the ability to diffuse light homogeneously and exhibit a high refractive index. The mixtures are containing an acrylate casting resin, benzylmethacrylate, phenanthrene and other additives. Phenanthrene is employed to increase the refractive index. The mixtures are first rheologically characterized and then polymerized with heat and UV radiation. For the refractive index measurements the polymerized samples require a planar surface without air bubbles. To produce flat samples a special construction consisting of a glass plate, a teflon sheet, a silicone ring (PDMS mold), another teflon sheet and another glass plate is developed. Glue clamps are used to fix this construction together. Selected samples have a refractive index of 1.585 at 20°C at a wavelength of 589nm. A master mixture with a high refractive index is taken for further experiments. Nano scaled titanium dioxide is added and dispersed into the master mixture and then spin coated on a glass substrate. These layers are optically characterized. The specular transmission and the overall transmission are measured to investigate the degree of scattering, which is defined as the haze. Most of the presented layers express the expected haze of over 50%.

CMOS-compatible fabrication of thin dielectric membranes for the ultraviolet and visible spectrum is presented for use in airgap/SiO₂-based interference filter design. A typical optical design consists of multiple membranes of 50-100 nm thickness. Maintaining flatness over a large area, as required by the optical application, is challenging. In such a free-standing membrane, the residual stress is the main force acting on the structure. Although an overall tensile residual stress can effectively stretch the membrane, too much stress would exceed the yield strength of the material and results in fracturing. Furthermore, the presence of a residual stress gradient causes the membrane to deform. In this work, the effect of a stress profile in the thin film has is investigated. Although PECVD SiO₂ layers with an average tensile stress level of 178 MPa are used for the fabrication of the membranes, the presence of a stress gradient of about 0:67 MPa=nm results in a deformation in the membrane. A simple straining method is applied to reduce flatness. The preliminary results and discusses the challenges in the fabrication of stacked membranes for optical filters are presented.

This paper demonstrates an approach for passive alignment and assembly of link components for board-level very-short range optical interconnects. This interchip optical link is based on planar polymeric multimode waveguides and glassbased electro-optical transceivers. The main aim of the work is the investigation of assembly processes of link components in order to fulfill the tolerance requirements using passive alignment. The optical characterization in regard to the optical coupling between link components will define the tolerances for the alignment process. This optical analysis is based on measurements of spatial coupling characteristics. The influence of assembly tolerances on the coupling efficiency is investigated. Flip-chip assembly of electro-optical devices on the glass interposer and of the glass interposer on optical overlay is presented to prove the implementation of the concept.

Systems for imaging require to employ high quality optical components in order to dispose of optical aberrations and thus reach sufficient resolution. However, well-known methods to get rid of optical aberrations, such as aspherical profiles or diffractive corrections are not easy to apply to micro-optics. In particular, some of these methods rely on polymers which cannot be associated when such lenses are to be used in integrated devices requiring high temperature process for their further assembly and separation. Among the different approaches, the most common is the lens splitting that consists in dividing the focusing power between two or more optical components. In here, we propose to take advantage of a wafer-level technique, devoted to the generation of glass lenses, which involves thermal reflow in silicon cavities to generate lens doublets. After the convex lens sides are generated, grinding and polishing of both stack sides allow, on the first hand, to form the planar lens backside and, on the other hand, to open the silicon cavity. Nevertheless, silicon frames are then kept and thinned down to form well-controlled and auto-aligned spacers between the lenses. Subsequent accurate vertical assembly of the glass lens arrays is performed by anodic bonding. The latter ensures a high level of alignment both laterally and axially since no additional material is required. Thanks to polishing, the generated lens doublets are then as thin as several hundreds of microns and compatible with micro-opto-electro-systems (MOEMS) technologies since they are only made of glass and silicon. The generated optical module is then robust and provide improved optical performances. Indeed, theoretically, two stacked lenses with similar features and spherical profiles can be almost diffraction limited whereas a single lens characterized by the same numerical aperture than the doublet presents five times higher wavefront error. To demonstrate such assumption, we fabricated glass lens doublets and compared them to single lenses of equivalent focusing power. For similar illumination, the optical aberrations are significantly reduced.

The demand of high resolution diffractive optical elements (DOE) is growing. Smaller critical dimensions allow higher deflection angles and can fulfill more demanding requirements, which can only be met by using electron-beam lithography. Replication techniques are more economical, since the high cost of the master can be distributed among a larger number of replicas. The lack of a suitable mold material for precision glass molding has so far prevented an industrial use. Glassy Carbon (GC) offers a high mechanical strength and high thermal strength. No anti-adhesion coatings are required in molding processes. This is clearly an advantage for high resolution, high aspect ratio microstructures, where a coating with a thickness between 10 nm and 200 nm would cause a noticeable rounding of the features. Electron-beam lithography was used to fabricate GC molds with highest precision and feature sizes from 250 nm to 2 μm. The master stamps were used for precision glass molding of a low T_g glass L-BAL42 from OHARA. The profile of the replicated glass is compared to the mold with the help of SEM images. This allows discussion of the max. aspect-ratio and min. feature size. To characterize optical performances, beamsplitting elements are fabricated and their characteristics were investigated, which are in excellent agreement to theory.