High refractive index chalcogenide polymer-based planar refractive microlens components

Planar microlens components are highly desired in micro-systems for their compactness and ability to integrate with other planar elements. In this paper, we propose an alternative facile approach to producing positive planar microlens components by infilling concave microlens featured glass encapsulation with high refractive index chalcogenide polymer. The presented refractive microlens components have several advantages: cost-efficient to process, high transmission in broadband spectrum, the ability to generate real focus and real image, and being well-protected by its planar glass encapsulation. Both single and arrayed samples were fabricated to demonstrate the effectiveness of the manufacturing process. The optical properties of the fabricated samples, including phase modulation, imaging performance, and spectrally operational region, were thoroughly characterized. Wavefront calibration with the prepared sample revealed its potential application in practical engineering fields.