8 Refractive Micro Optics

Optical Waveguide Types

There are two main types of optical waveguide structures:

the step index and the graded index. In a step-index
waveguide, the interface between the core and cladding is
an abrupt change of index, producing the TIR effect. In a
graded-index waveguide, the change between the core
and cladding regions is smooth and continuous, therefore
producing a refracted wave rather than a reflected wave.
There are two types of step-index waveguides: multimode
and monomode (single mode). Only a single mode can
propagate in the latter, whereas a multitude of modes (TIR-
reflected angles) can propagate in the former.
Multimode fiber
Cladding
Core

Cladding

Graded-index multimode fiber

Cladding
Core

Cladding

Single-mode fiber
Cladding
Core

Cladding

When light is confined by coatings rather than by TIR, it

may be referred to as a light pipe rather than a
waveguide. Optical planar waveguides come in various
types, including buried channel guide (graded index), ridge
or strip-loaded channel guide (step index), or even photonic
crystal (PC) waveguide (holey fiber).

Buried channel Ridge channel Strip-loaded channel

Field Guide to Digital Micro Optics

18 Refractive Micro Optics

Beam Steering with MLAs

Beam steering with MLAs is a useful way to steer an

incoming beam by laterally moving one MLA with regard
to the other (e.g., an afocal inverted telescope). The
following figure shows one such MLA system and its
resulting prism counterpart. The same principle can be
applied to arrays of such lenses in order to produce a thin
but large area to be steered, when thickness is essential.
However, care must be taken with parasitic crosstalk
between neighboring lenses. The resulting deflection angle
for a typical dual-MLA beam-steering system is given by
 
Dx
w ¼ arctan
df #

where f# is the f-number of the lens, and Dx is the relative

lateral MLA displacement.

Small lateral offsets can produce large angular deflections.

When aligned, such arrays are also known as afocal angle
enlargers, enlarging the incoming beam angle by the
magnification ratio of the MLA system. If the MLAs are
diffractive, spectral dispersion and diffraction efficiency
must be addressed. Angular shifts of tens of degrees can be
achieved by micrometric lateral shifts.

Field Guide to Digital Micro Optics

Diffractive Micro Optics 37

Athermalizing Hybrid Lenses

Athermalization can be achieved in a hybrid singlet in a

way similar to that of achromatic singlets (thermal spectral
drifts have opposite signs in refractives and diffractives,
similar to spectral dispersion characteristics).
• The optothermal expansion coefficient xref for a
refractive lens of focal length f, curvature c, and index
n can be written as
 
1 1 @f 1 @n
f ¼ ) xf ,ref ¼ 
ðn  1Þc f @T n  1 @T

The focal-length variation for a diffractive lens as a

function of the temperature is given by
n0 r2m 1
f ðT Þ ¼ ¼ r2 ð1 þ ag DT Þ2 n0
2ml0 2ml0 m
• The optothermal expansion coefficient xdif for a
diffractive lens can be written as
 
1 @f 1 @n0
xf ,dif ¼  2ag þ
f @T n0 @T

Inverse to spectral dispersion, the amplitude of the

thermal expansion of diffractives is much smaller than
the amplitude of the thermal expansion of refractives:
|xf,dif| << |xf,ref|.
By equating both values, it is therefore possible to design
an athermal lens (a hybrid singlet refractive/diffractive
athermal lens) in which the focal length does not vary with
temperature as it would for individual refractive or
diffractive lenses: xf,doublet ¼ xf,mount.
Although a typical hybrid achromatic singlet lens would
have most of the power on the refractive surface, a typical
hybrid athermal singlet will have most of the power on the
diffractive surface. This makes it difficult to design and
fabricate hybrid refractive/diffractive lenses that are
simultaneously achromatic and athermal.

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66 From Micro Optics to Nano Optics

Effective Medium Theory (EMT)

When the minimum period becomes smaller than the

reconstruction wavelength, the incoming light does not reach
the structures but rather “sees” an analog effective index
modulation that is produced by the subwavelength (usually
binary) structures.
The following table shows an example of a blazed grating
profile (local phase ramp) that is physically implemented
by various techniques (analog or multilevel surface ramp,
real index modulation, and effective index ramp through
binary subwavelength structures).
Physical aspect Comments

n1
n2 A) Continuous profiles
>>

S >>

n1 B) Multi-level approximation
n2 -> multi-mask process

n1 < n(x) <n2 n1 C) Effective medium approach

S >>

D) Single-step planar (binary) technology

n2 n1

In this example, the smooth phase profile producing the

blaze is implemented as a pulsewidth modulation
(PWM) along each period of the grating. The structures
are fabricated over a regular grid, and each structure is
slightly smaller, producing a linearly varying sub-grating
duty cycle. Note that one can also use a pulse-density-
modulation (PDM) scheme or even an error-diffusion
algorithm, such as the one used in greyscale laser printing.

Because there is only a single etch depth for EMT structures,

a single lithography and etching step is required. However,
the resulting element behaves as a multilevel or quasi-analog
surface-relief element. This is thus an efficient fabrication
technique when compared to systematic errors (alignment,
etch) that occur in multilevel lithography.

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Micro Optics Fabrication 137

Step-and-Repeat Lithography

Steppers are high-resolution tools that use reticles at 10,

5, or 4 magnification, but they can only print small
fields, such as 20  20 mm, typically. When the elements to
be printed are larger than that field, a mask-aligning
lithography tool (1 system) must be used.

Various stepper sys-

tems currently exist
with increasingly smal-
ler illumination wave-
lengths. A stepper can
be one to two orders
more expensive than a
mask aligner, but it can
produce much-smaller
features, though on a
smaller field. Yester-
day’s I-line steppers
can go below 0.5 mm,
today’s deep UV (DUV)
steppers can go below
100 nm, and tomorrow’s extreme UV (EUV) steppers go below
10 nm.

Year Source Type l (nm) NA k1 dx (mm)

1980 0.28 0.96 1.50
G line 436
1983 0.35 0.96 1.20
1986 Mercury H line 405 0.45 1.00 1.00
1989 arc lamp 0.45 0.86 0.70
1992 I line 365 0.54 0.74 0.50
1995 0.60 0.57 0.35
1997 0.93 0.50 0.25
1999 UV laser KrF 248 1.00 0.43 0.18
2001 0.75 0.37 0.11
2003 DUV ArF 193 0.85 0.45 0.09
2005 laser F2 157 0.90 0.45 0.06
2008 EUV X ray (R&D) 13 0.20 0.50 0.03

Field Guide to Digital Micro Optics