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Low f ‐Number Diffraction‐Limited Pancharatnam–Berry Microlenses Enabled by Plasmonic Photopatterning of Liquid Crystal Polymers
Author(s) -
Jiang Miao,
Guo Yubing,
Yu Hao,
Zhou Ziyuan,
Turiv Taras,
Lavrentovich Oleg D.,
Wei QiHuo
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
advanced materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 10.707
H-Index - 527
eISSN - 1521-4095
pISSN - 0935-9648
DOI - 10.1002/adma.201808028
Subject(s) - materials science , diffraction , optics , plasmon , focal length , liquid crystal , optoelectronics , polymer , nanotechnology , physics , composite material , lens (geology)
Microlenses are desired by a wide range of industrial applications while it is always challenging to make them with diffraction‐limited quality. Here, it is shown that high‐quality microlenses based on Pancharatnam–Berry (PB) phases can be made with liquid crystal polymers by using a plasmonic photopatterning technique. Based on the generalized Snell's law for the PB phases, PB microlenses with a range of focal lengths and f ‐numbers are designed and fabricated and their point‐spread functions and ability to image micrometer‐sized particles are carefully characterized. The results show that these PB microlenses with f ‐number down to 2 are all diffraction‐limited. The capability of arraying these PB microlenses with 100% filling factor with a step‐and‐flash approach is further demonstrated.