The Smallest GRIN Microlenses!

MicroLens Company commercializes the technology of production of the smallest GRIN microlenses in the world. The technology was created thanks to the cooperation of scientists from Poland and Scotland.  The company and the technology have won many international awards for the groundbreaking innovation (e.g. in Switzerland and Malaysia) and MicroLens is currently selling its first samples to technology partners who miniaturize optoelectronic systems.

The MicroLens technology makes it possible to produce the smallest structured microlenses in the world with the diameter equal to the 1/10th of the diameter of human hair (10 microns). At the same time, this technology makes it possible to create products with optical parameters on demand. The microlens production technology is patented.

The GRIN micro optical components are attractive due to their potential applications in imaging systems, such as endoscopic systems, fibre optics, laser collimation, optical couplers and optical computing. For those applications, there is a need for small-diameter, easily integrated microlenses. GRIN components are among the best solutions to achieve this since they exhibit inhomogeneous surface refraction and continuous bulk focusing. They exhibit significantly more complex optical behaviour than standard lenses, and are known to offer the potential for superior performance over traditional homogeneous optics.

In particular planar surface rod-type GRIN lenses with parabolic refractive index profile are an attractive approach for compact optical systems, as they can be easily integrated with other micro-optical components. With the precise control over the dispersions of their constituent materials there is also the possibility of designing achromatic GRIN singlet lenses. This can be achieved in nGIN lenses made from soft borosilicate glasses, which have more degrees of freedom in designing glass parameters than silica and doped silica glasses.

nGRIN microlenses can be also easily integrated into lens arrays, such as seen in she Shack-Hartmann sensors. Those are devices commonly used for measuring wavefront distortion, which are most widely applied in a technology called adaptive optics. This involves measuring, reconstructing and reshaping the phase of a wavefront in real-time. The technology is used for example in astronomy, lithography, free space optical communication, telecommunication (for coupling eigenmode), and in medicine.

In the recent years, a strong trend could be observed for miniaturization of optical traps, for example in order to use them in lab-on-chip setups5. Miniaturized optical traps do not feature large microscope objectives, but optical fibres. Apart from miniaturization, this trend results in a simplification of the optical setup, avoiding beam propagation in free space and avoiding the use of immersion oil. Further, it allows for manipulating particles anywhere in the solution. Optical fibres are also biocompatible, mechanically resistant and cheap. Te main drawback of such setups is either a very short manipulation distance, typically allowing to trap only the particles directly at the fiber tip, or obtaining a weakly focused two-dimensional optical trap due to the reduced numerical aperture (NA). To solve these problems graded index (GRIN) lenses can be used.

We are looking for technology partners in Japan with whom we will be able to create new products.