Hybrid aerosol jet μ -stereolithography additive manufacturing for fabrication of multi-material polymer step-index optics

authored by

Hossein Salmani Rezaei, Moritz Hinkelmann, Jörg Neumann, Dietmar Kracht, Ludger Overmeyer

Abstract

We propose a technique for additive manufacturing of polymer step-index (STIN) optics. The process is composed of aerosol jet multi-material deposition followed by laser-assisted stereolithography in an alternating fashion to fabricate multi-material three-dimensional objects. The layer-wise dynamic tuning of the refractive index provides the possibility to fabricate optics with tailored index profiles. The index range achieved by the presented approach is considerably higher than the common index tuning techniques. Using this technique, a planar multilayer STIN lens is fabricated. The index profile of the fabricated lens has similar progression to the designed profile. In addition, through simulation and also optical characterization, the lensing functionality of the structure is observed.

Organisation(s)

Institute of Transport and Automation Technology
PhoenixD: Photonics, Optics, and Engineering - Innovation Across Disciplines

External Organisation(s)

Laser Zentrum Hannover e.V. (LZH)

Type

Article

Journal

Optical engineering

Volume

62

ISSN

0091-3286

Publication date

26.09.2023

Publication status

Published

Peer reviewed

Yes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics, Engineering(all)

Electronic version(s)

https://doi.org/10.1117/1.OE.62.9.095105 (Access: Closed)