Using refraction caustics to monitor evaporation of liquid drop lenses

Lock, James A.; Walker, Jearl; Andrews, James H.

doi:10.1364/ao.29.004599

Cited by 8 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…During curing, it is also possible that the delicate liquid air interface of droplet formation can introduce uneven surfaces on the silicone droplets 30 . To study that surface roughness of the lenses were measured using an optical profiler (Wyko NT9100: Mirau interferometer) and compared against commercial aspheric lenses.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design and fabrication of a passive droplet dispenser for portable high resolution imaging system

Kamal

Watkins

Cen

et al. 2017

Sci Rep

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Moldless lens manufacturing techniques using standard droplet dispensing technology often require precise control over pressure to initiate fluid flow and control droplet formation. We have determined a series of interfacial fluid parameters optimised using standard 3D printed tools to extract, dispense and capture a single silicone droplet that is then cured to obtain high quality lenses. The dispensing process relies on the recapitulation of liquid dripping action (Rayleigh-Plateau instability) and the capturing method uses the interplay of gravitational force, capillary forces and liquid pinning to control the droplet shape. The key advantage of the passive lens fabrication approach is rapid scale-up using 3D printing by avoiding complex dispensing tools. We characterise the quality of the lenses fabricated using the passive approach by measuring wavefront aberration and high resolution imaging. The fabricated lenses are then integrated into a portable imaging system; a wearable thimble imaging device with a detachable camera housing, that is constructed for field imaging. This paper provides the full exposition of steps, from lens fabrication to imaging platform, necessary to construct a standalone high resolution imaging system. The simplicity of our methodology can be implemented using a regular desktop 3D printer and commercially available digital imaging systems.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design and fabrication of a passive droplet dispenser for portable high resolution imaging system

Kamal

Watkins

Cen

et al. 2017

Sci Rep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…If λ is higher than optimum then Rayleigh-Plateau instability occurs and a series of satellite droplets form following the primary droplet. To ensure smooth transfer of the droplet from the tip of the dropper to the holder the height between the tip and the holder has been designed deliberately to be smaller than the optimum wavelength 8 , 22…”

Section: Droplet Generation Using Passive Dispensermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…During curing, it is also possible that the delicate liquid air interface of droplet formation can introduce uneven surfaces on the silicone droplets 8 . To study that surface roughness of the lenses were measured using an optical profiler (Wyko NT9100: Mirau interferometer) and compared against commercial aspheric lenses.…”

Section: Physical Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Direct fabrication of silicone lenses with 3D printed parts

et al. 2016

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The traditional process of making glass lenses requires grinding and polishing of the material which is a tedious and sensitive process. Existing polymer lens making techniques, such as high temperature reflow techniques, have been significantly simple lens making processes which cater well to customer industry. Recently, the use of UV-curing liquid lens has ushered in customized lens making (Printed Optics), but contains undesirable yellowing effects. Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) is a transparent polymer curable at low temperature (<100 o C) provides an alternative to lens making. In this work, we showed that PDMS lenses are fabricated using single silicone droplets which are formed in a guided and controlled passive manner using 3D printed tools. These silicone lenses have attributes such as smoothness of curvature, resilience to temperature change, low optical aberrations, high transparency (>95%) and minimal aging (yellowing). Moreover, these lenses have a range of focal lengths (3.5 mm to 14.5 mm as well as magnifications (up to). In addition, we created smartphone attachment to turn smart device (tablet or smartphone) into a low-powered microscope. In future we plan to extend this method to produce microlens array.

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Caustics and the Legendre transform

Bellver-Cebreros

Rodríguez-Danta

1992

Optics Communications

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Using refraction caustics to monitor evaporation of liquid drop lenses

Cited by 8 publications

References 19 publications

Design and fabrication of a passive droplet dispenser for portable high resolution imaging system

Design and fabrication of a passive droplet dispenser for portable high resolution imaging system

Direct fabrication of silicone lenses with 3D printed parts

Caustics and the Legendre transform

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