This work reports a new type of optical fiber tweezers based on polymeric micro-lenses. The lenses are achieved by means of an economical and fast fabrication process, using an in-fiber photo-polymerization technique. The polymerization radiation is guided towards the fiber tip creating a polymeric waveguide. The method allows tailoring the geometry of the tip by adjusting the fabrication parameters. Furthermore, more complex shapes can be fabricated by exploring modal effects at the polymerization/trapping wavelengths, which can be used for different applications such as trapping, beam shaping and patterned illumination.

Date Published: 16 September 2014
PDF: 4 pages
Proc. SPIE 9164, Optical Trapping and Optical Micromanipulation XI, 91642M (16 September 2014); doi: 10.1117/12.2060374

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9164:
Optical Trapping and Optical Micromanipulation XI
Kishan Dholakia; Gabriel C. Spalding, Editor(s)