Herein, we report a novel optical glass material, fluoroaluminate (AlF3) glass, with excellent optical transmittance from ultraviolet to infrared wavelength ranges, which provides more options for application in optical devices. Based on its performance, the phase-type Fresnel zone plate (FZP) by ultraviolet femtosecond (fs) laser-inscribed lithography is achieved, which induces the refractive index change by fs-laser tailoring. The realization of ultraviolet fs-laser fabrication inside glass can benefit from the excellent optical performance of the AlF3 glass. Compared with traditional surface-etching micro-optical elements, the phase-type FZP based on AlF3 glass exhibits a clear and well-defined geometry and presents perfect environmental suitability without surface roughness problems. Additionally, optical focusing and multi-wavelength imaging can be easily obtained. Phase-type FZP embedded in AlF3 glass has great potential applications in the imaging and focusing in glass-integrated photonics, especially for the ultraviolet wavelength range.
Herein, we report a novel biological hydrogel-based achromatic refractive-diffractive micro-optical element with single-material apochromatism. Benefiting from the stimulated responsive property of the hydrogel, pH modulation yielded swelling and affected the refractive index of the element, enabling multi-wavelength focusing performance tuning and chromatic aberration adjustment. Using femtosecond laser lithography, we fabricated a separate hydrogel microlens and Fresnel zone plate and measured the tunable focusing performance while varying pH; the results were consistent with our simulation results. Furthermore, we designed and fabricated a hydrogel-based achromatic refractive-diffractive micro-optical element and demonstrated achromatism with respect to three wavelengths using only one material consisting of a microlens and a Fresnel zone plate. We characterized the optical focusing properties and observed smaller chromatic aberration. The potential applications of such hybrid microoptical elements include biomedical imaging and optical biology sensing.
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