STTR Phase I: 3D Lithography of Thick Photopolymers for Imaging and Photonic Crystal Waveguides

小型企业技术转移研究(STTR)第一阶段项目将展示一种创新的新型3D光刻技术，用于在厚光聚合物中制造成像阵列和光子晶体波导，这种聚合物更便宜、更高性能、更轻、更灵活，并且具有目前的“堆叠和绘制”制造无法实现的功能。厚光聚合物对3D光学曝光的响应具有自我发展的折射率结构，通常与吸收的能量成正比。传统的掩模投影光刻不能处理这些厚体积。在这个项目中，掩膜的图像垂直于聚合物表面投影，并通过任意长度的聚合物样品进行平移。不变的掩模将写入平移不变的波导阵列或光子晶体光纤。这些光子晶体光纤不需要很大的折射率对比度，与光聚合物的特性相匹配。动态掩模包括空间光调制器或掩模旋转，将这种能力扩展到沿其长度具有绝热变化的复杂波导。建议的项目将评估导波结构的潜在特性，它们用于轻量级平视显示器的能力，并将证明所建议的光刻方法的可行性。成像阵列作为当前内窥镜、光纤面板和图像转换器的替代品具有巨大的商业潜力。拟议的技术还使新的市场应用得以实现，包括用于公共安全应用的廉价眼睛监控、用于光标控制的人机界面的可穿戴凝视跟踪、市场研究以及为残疾人控制轮椅。该技术还应用于制造非侵入性、眼镜框嵌入式平视显示器的军事应用。

The Small Business Technology Transfer Research (STTR) Phase I project will result in the demonstration of an innovative new form of 3D lithography to be used for fabricating imaging arrays and photonic-crystal waveguides in thick photopolymers that are cheaper, higher performance, lighter, more flexible and have capabilities that are not currently possible with current "stack and draw" manufacturing. Thick photopolymers respond to 3D optical exposure with a self-developing index structure, typically proportional to absorbed energy. Traditional mask-projection lithography cannot address these thick volumes. In this project, the image of the mask is projected perpendicular to the surface of the polymer and translated through an arbitrarily long polymer sample. An unchanging mask will write translational-invariant waveguide arrays or photonic crystal fibers. These photonic crystal fibers do not require large index contrast, matching the properties of photopolymers. Dynamic masks including spatial light modulators or mask rotations extend the capability to complex waveguides with adiabatic variations along their length. The proposed project will evaluate the potential properties of the guided-wave structures, their capabilities for lightweight heads-up displays, and will demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed lithography method.The imaging arrays have significant commercial potential as replacements for current endoscopes, fiber faceplates and image converters. The proposed technology is also enabling for new market applications including inexpensive eye monitoring for public safety applications, wearable gaze tracking for human-computer interface for cursor control, market studies, and control of wheel chairs for the handicapped. The technology also has application for military applications for the fabrication of non-intrusive, eyeglass frame embedded heads-up displays.