3D-printing optical components for microscopy using a desktop 3D-printer

Christopher, Jay L. and Tinning, Peter W. and Uttamchandani, Deepak and Bauer, Ralf (2022) 3D-printing optical components for microscopy using a desktop 3D-printer. Proceedings of SPIE, 12013. 120130F. ISSN 0277-786X (https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2608614)

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Abstract

In this work, we present the results of using a commercially available SLA printer for the fabrication of a range of designs of optical components. The optical properties are compared to off-the-shelf optics, including a detailed analysis of optical transmission, part uniformity and surface quality. A post-processing refinement step is introduced whose results are benchmarked against off-the-shelf polished glass lenses to exemplify sub-hundred nanometre surface roughness uniformity with minimal surface defects, and transmission properties as high as 85% at 638 nm for a 1 mm thick optical block without anti-reflection coatings.

ORCID iDs

Christopher, Jay L. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-0707-8947, Tinning, Peter W. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3270-4120, Uttamchandani, Deepak ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2362-4874 and Bauer, Ralf ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7927-9435;
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