Microlenses, and especially microlens arrays (MLA), are commonly used as stand-alone optical components, for beam homogenization and shaping. Or integrated as wafer-level optics (WLO), either on top of light sources for beam shaping, or on top of light or image sensors as light concentrators. Many techniques are available to originate the microlens shape: laser ablation, grayscale lithography, two photon absorption, etc. One common way is to pattern photoresist pillars by photolithography and to melt (reflow) them. We report new advances in thermal reflow mastering addressing its intrinsic limitations and expanding the design capabilities of reflow-based MLAs.
Microlenses, and especially microlens arrays (MLA), are commonly used as stand-alone optical components, for beam homogenization and shaping. Or integrated as wafer-level optics (WLO), either on top of light sources for beam shaping (e.g., on micro-LED or vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser – VCSEL), or on top of light or image sensors as light concentrators. In the latter case, each microlens of the MLA, also known in the photography domain as On-Chip Lens (OCL), redirects the light to the active volume of the pixel located underneath. This increases the external quantum efficiency (EQE) by increasing the pixel effective fill-factor, especially for front-illuminated image sensors and their limited fill-factors. We report various MLA optimizations and the concentration factors achieved when addressing challenges encountered with advanced photon detectors such as single-photon avalanche diodes (SPAD) or silicon photon multiplier (SiPM). For example: substrate size and type (wafer, bare or packaged die), optical transmission range from NUV to NIR, microlens geometrical parameter space (diameters from micrometers to millimeters) and stability to temperature, vibrations and irradiation (UV, gamma and proton).
Microlenses replicated on front-illuminated single-photon avalanche diodes (SPAD) or back-illuminated CMOS image sensor are found to be stable to temperature variations, exposure to humidity, mechanical shocks and vibrations, as well as irradiation by gamma rays (for space applications). They highly improve the effective fill-factor, on front-illuminated SPAD-based image sensors, and the parasitic light sensitivity on a back-illuminated CMOS image sensor. Their broad transmission spectrum from NUV to NIR, combined with the wide geometrical space available to fabricate microlenses on various active substrates (wafer or die down to 2×2 mm2), make them suitable to a wide range of quantum photonics applications.
In next generation space instrumentation for Earth and Universe Observation, new instrument concepts include often non planar gratings. Their realization is complex and costly. We propose a new technology for designing and realizing convex blazed gratings for high throughput spectrographs. For this purpose, our requirements are driven by a Digital-Micromirror-Device-based (DMD) MOS instrument to be mounted on the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo (TNG) and called BATMAN. The two-arm instrument is providing in parallel imaging and spectroscopic capabilities. The objects/field selector is a 2048 x 1080 micromirrors DMD, placed at the focal plane of the telescope; it is used as a programmable multi-slit mask at the entrance of the spectrograph. The compact Offner-type spectrograph design contains a low density convex grating to disperse light. For optimization of the spectrograph efficiency, this convex grating must be blazed. A blazed reflective grating has been designed with a period of 3300 nm and a blaze angle of 5.04°, and fabricated into convex substrates with 225 mm radius of curvature and a footprint diameter of 63.5 mm. The blaze is optimized for the center wavelength of 580 nm within the spectral range of 400 – 800 nm. Such gratings have been fabricated and coated with a silver-based layer, with a final 7° blaze angle over the whole surface. Efficiency close to 90% on the 1st diffraction order at 700nm has been obtained, measured on BATMAN spectroscopic arm. Detailed mapping of the blazed grating showed a very good period uniformity with up to 0.5% deviation. Grating depth and blaze angle have higher deviation, up to 7%. An optimized device with the exact required blaze angle would reach the same efficiency and be centered on the mid of 400-800nm wavelength band: its realization is on-going. The grating brings a significant contribution in the total amount of straylight at instrument level. Their straylight level remains a critical issue, and its reduction by specific and controlled implementation of improvements in manufacturing process is a challenge to tackle. Preliminary straylight measurement has been done and shows a lowest straylight level below 10-2 sr-1 between the diffraction orders. This new type of non-planar reflective gratings will be the key component for future high throughput spectrographs in space missions.
Regular arrays of quasi-micro-beads have been fabricated via a modified microlens array fabrication process. Thanks to surface energy modification and control, microlens have been obtained with shapes being significantly more than hemispherical, realizing regular arrays of quasi-micro-beads. This fabrication method is the only reported technique - to the best of our knowledge - enabling the massive parallelization of super-resolution imaging via nanojet thanks to the regularity of the array. Results of super-resolution imaging using these arrays will be reported and discussed.
The search for full control of amplitude and phase of the electromagnetic field from planar surfaces is of high interest for the development of highly integrated photonic systems and at optical devices. A hybrid dielectric plasmonic resonant waveguide grating which enables highly wavelength-selective first order diffraction in a multimode light guide is reported. Measurements show a narrowband peak in the first order of diffraction at resonance, while the undesired transmitted signal is strongly suppressed at other wavelengths as well as in the zeroth diffraction order. Another hybrid resonant waveguide grating is reported and shows a bandwidth of 20nm in the zeroth order of transmission. Overall, this work shows the promising use of hybrid structures for taking the best features of both plasmonic and dielectric grating resonances for designing highly integrated optical devices such as spectrometers or optical security features.
In next generation space instrumentation for Earth and Universe Observation, new instrument concepts include often non planar gratings. Their realization is complex and costly. We propose a new technology for designing and realizing convex blazed gratings for high throughput spectrographs.
For this purpose, our requirements are driven by a Digital-Micromirror-Device-based (DMD) MOS instrument to be mounted on the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo (TNG) and called BATMAN. The two-arm instrument is providing in parallel imaging and spectroscopic capabilities. The objects/field selector is a 2048 x 1080 micromirrors DMD, placed at the focal plane of the telescope; it is used as a programmable multi-slit mask at the entrance of the spectrograph. The compact Offner-type spectrograph design contains a low density convex grating to disperse light. For optimization of the spectrograph efficiency, this convex grating must be blazed.
A blazed reflective grating has been designed with a period of 3300 nm and a blaze angle of 5.04°, and fabricated into convex substrates with 225 mm radius of curvature and a footprint diameter of 63.5 mm. The blaze is optimized for the center wavelength of 580 nm within the spectral range of 400 – 800 nm. Convex blazed gratings have been fabricated and coated with protected silver, with a final 5.7° blaze angle over the whole surface. Efficiency close to 90% on the 1st diffraction order at 700nm has been obtained.
This new type of non-planar reflective gratings will be the key component for future high throughput spectrographs in space missions.
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