This paper presents research activities carried out at VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland in the field of hybrid
integration of optics, electronics and mechanics. Main focus area in our research is the manufacturing of electronic
modules and product structures with printed electronics, film-over-molding and polymer sheet lamination technologies
and the goal is in the next generation of smart systems utilizing monolithic polymer packages. The combination of
manufacturing technologies such as roll-to-roll -printing, injection molding and traditional component assembly is called
Printed Hybrid Systems (PHS).
Several demonstrator structures have been made, which show the potential of polymer packaging technology. One
demonstrator example is a laminated structure with embedded LED chips. Element thickness is only 0.3mm and the
flexible stack of foils can be bent in two directions after assembly process and was shaped curved using heat and
pressure. The combination of printed flexible circuit boards and injection molding has also been demonstrated with
several functional modules. The demonstrators illustrate the potential of origami electronics, which can be cut and folded
to 3D shapes. It shows that several manufacturing process steps can be eliminated by Printed Hybrid Systems
technology. The main benefits of this combination are small size, ruggedness and conformality. The devices are ideally
suited for medical applications as the sensitive electronic components are well protected inside the plastic and the
structures can be cleaned easily due to the fact that they have no joints or seams that can accumulate dirt or bacteria.
A novel add-on device to a mobile camera phone has been developed. The prototype system contains both laser and LED illumination as well as imaging optics. Main idea behind the device is to have a small printable diffractive ROM (Read Only Memory) element, which can be read by illuminating it with a laser-beam and recording the resulting
datamatrix pattern with a camera phone. The element contains information in the same manner as a traditional bar-code, but due to the 2D-pattern and diffractive nature of the tag, a much larger amount of information can be packed on a smaller area. Optical and mechanical designs of the prototype device have been made in such a way that the system can be used in three different modes: as a laser reader, as a telescope and as a microscope.
General design principles for surface plasmon enhanced near-field transducers are presented. Light transmission through a corrugated cylindrical aperture is studied via the BOR-FDTD method.
We introduce a technique which enables FDTD modeling of the transmission of obliquely incident plane waves through an aperture in a film having infinite lateral extent. As an example we analyze surface plasmon enhanced light transmission through a slit in a silver film.
In the case of imaging optics for imaging cellular phones, special attention has to be paid on the cost of the lens system. The number of lens elements has to be minimized, but the image quality has to be maximized. It is important that optimum quality/cost - ratio is found. The image sensor characteristics and human visual system preferences have to be taken into consideration as well for the design. In this paper, we present our new image quality metric. The performance of the metric is investigated using subjective tests on different lens designs and compared with MTF metric. We show that our metric has a good correlation with human observer and performs better than MTF metric. Finally, we give some examples of optimization based on our metric.
The prototyping process of miniaturized plastic imaging lens is described. The sequence is divided into five phases: specification, optics design, optomechanical design, manufacturing and characterization. During specification, the optical and mechanical requirements of the lens are defined. In the optical design phase, the lens is optimized, and a tolerance analysis is carried out. Simulation tools, especially, an image quality simulator, can be used to visualize and verify the performance of the design. Mechanical design is performed considering the geometrical specifications and optical tolerances of the system. In addition, stray light analysis is carried out to verify the optical performance of the optomechanics. Plastic optics are particularly vulnerable to stray light due to the integrated mountings, which provide additional paths for unwanted light. If the prototype is used for preliminary performance evaluation of a future product, the differences between prototype and mass manufacturing methods need to be considered carefully. After the lenses are manufactured they are characterized, and the experimental results are compared with the original specifications and estimations obtained from the previous design verification simulations. New error analysis simulations can be performed in order to pinpoint faults in manufactured modules. If the performance of the prototype is not sufficient, a new prototyping iteration circle is needed. The whole process is described and analyzed using a miniature, plastic imaging lens as an example, but it can also be applied to other optical prototyping tasks.
In this paper, an imaging system simulation tool is presented. With the tool, it is possible to simulate the performance (quality) of an imaging system. Furthermore, the system allows optimization of the lens system for a given image sensor. Experiments have shown that the tool is useful in actual lens design.
An adjustable extremely short external cavity (ESEC; cavity length 0...50 microns) can be used to tune the wavelength of an edge emitting Fabry-Perot semiconductor laser up to two percents. This means about 30 nm tuning range for the 1550-nm lasers and about 15 nm tuning range for the 800-nm lasers. In addition to the use in WDM and other tunable laser applications, this phenomenon can be directly used in realizing wavelength tuning sensitive near field sensors. In this paper, we discuss the ESEC laser tuning mechanism by using various numerical models and experimentation. We show simulations and experimental results for two different wavelength tuning schemes: a single mirror tuning, and tuning by using a micromachined Fabry Perot interferometer. In addition, we discuss and show results on wavelength tuning enhanced readout in near field optical data storage, and on near field surface profilometry via laser wavelength tuning.
In this paper we describe how finite difference time domain (FDTD) calculations can be used in the modeling of extremely short external cavity (ESEC) lasers used in modern optical data storage systems. We study the operation of direct semiconductor laser read/write heads that utilize either a conventional edge emitting laser or very small aperture laser. The storage medium is assumed to be a first-surface-recorded phase change (e.g. SGT) disc. The external cavity is formed between the laser's front facet and the disc. The length of the ESEC is typically 0.1 to 1.0 microns. By using FDTD we can study the behavior of the electric field in the ESEC in detail, taking into account the vector field effects resulting from the three-dimensional nature of the data marks and laser apertures. We calculate the distributions of electric field amplitudes, power flow and absorption in/near the external cavity. In addition, we calculate the effective reflectance spectrum of the ESEC and use this data as input into a phenomenological laser model to simulate the readout signal, i.e., the laser's output power and/or wavelength.
This paper introduces the usage of directly UV-photopatternable sol-gel based materials and the processing methods for the fabrication of binary diffractive optical elements. We designed and modeled a binary axicon - an optical element, which produces almost diffraction free beam in a specified distance from the element. We fabricated sol-gel based hybrid-glass materials and tailored their processing parameters to fit the demands of the axicon design. Resolution of 2 microns, film thickness of 850 nm, and certain morphological properties were required. The materials were derived from zirconium(IV)isopropoxide, methacrylic acid, and methacryloxypropyltritethoxysilane. We determined the morphological and line quality of the fabricated axicons as a function of the UV-irradiation dose. In addition, we measured the optical characteristics of the axicons in terms of the axial and radial intensity profiles. The reasons for the differences between calculated and measured values are discussed.
Optical disk storage has so far not been implemented in extremely small platforms such as cellular mobile terminals (mobile phones). The technology has certain characteristics which could make it highly useful; in particular, it is low-cost, high-capacity, and does not need hermetic sealing. This potentially makes it the only 'fully exchangeable' memory medium suited for mobile terminals. We sketch out some of the main R and D problems that will need to be solved before optical disk storage can be seriously considered for these miniature applications. We also show that the R and D questions are not in fact the most serious obstacles; global standardization is the issue over which the technology will rise or fall.
The trend towards so-called digital convergence (multiple functionality within a single terminal) is opening up a need for high-capacity storage within the cellular mobile terminals (CMT). Solid-state memories and magnetic microdrives are the most commercially mature options. Optical disk technology in this size range is immature, but has a unique potential: no other medium at present has the capability to be simultaneously low-cost, high-capacity, and exchangeable. In this paper, we explore the requirements for the implementation of optical disk storage in a CMT environment. From the technical point of view, these requirements include small form factor, high-enough data density and throughput, low power consumption, robustness, low cost, mass productability, and modularity. Although current technologies may satisfy some of these requirements individually, there is a need for combined optimization of all of these parameters. From the commercial point of view, the most crucial requirement is global standardization. Such standardization is crucial if wide interoperability is wanted (between CMT manufacturers, and even more crucially between CMTs and other appliances). Current optical storage standards are industry-driven and tend to be proprietary and/or incompatible. Even if the technical challenges can be met, optical data storage is not likely to be accepted in CMT applications unless global standardization proceeds more quickly than it is doing at present.
In this paper we describe how finite difference time domain (FDTD) calculations can be used in the modeling of extremely short external cavity (ESEC) lasers. We concentrate on the applications of ESEC lasers in modern optical data storage systems: we study the operation of direct semiconductor laser read/write heads that utilize either a conventional edge emitting laser or very small aperture laser. The storage medium is assumed to be a first-surface-recorded phase change (e.g. SGT) disc. The external cavity is formed between laser's front facet and disc. The length of the ESEC is typically 0.1 to 1.0 microns. By using FDTD we can study the behavior of the electric field in the ESEC in detail, taking into account the vector field effects resulting from the three-dimensional nature of the data marks and laser apertures. We calculate the distributions of electric field amplitudes, power flow and absorption in/near the external cavity. In addition, we calculate the effective reflectance spectrum of the ESEC and use this data as input into a phenomenological laser model to simulate the readout signal (i.e. laser's output power and/or wavelength) as the disk is scanned. One-dimensional FDTD models were used for qualitative analysis of ESEC laser's wavelength and power characteristics.
KEYWORDS: Reflectivity, Semiconductor lasers, Mirrors, Signal detection, Near field optics, Optical discs, Laser marking, Modulation, Reflectors, Near field
Optical disk readout based on direct optical feedback to a semiconductor laser is studied via simulations. Laser dynamics and the diffraction of light in the extremely short external cavity formed by the laser front facet and the optical disk surface are taken into account. We compute both the variation of the laser's output power and its oscillation spectrum versus the position of scanned data marks. The characteristics of the laser's spectral response versus flying height and versus laser facet reflectance variations are described. Techniques for achieving various types of enhanced playback are discussed.
The paper reports on methods to fabricate novel materials and associated processing for optoelectronics and optical structures compatible with manufacturing of microsystems. Furthermore, the paper presents results on designing, fabrication and packaging of different modules and microsystems for sensor, instrumentation and optical communication applications. New materials are developed and liquid phase deposition methods are applied for the fabrication of lithography compatible glasses, conducive transparent glasses and protective materials. The developed lithographic glasses are used for example to fabricate micro-opto-mechanical structures. By using these materials and structures, a miniaturized micro-optical table is constructed. Furthermore, organic and hybrid semiconductors and light emitting materials are manufactured and their integration as micro-optical components and systems are described. From the view-point of module integration, a wavelength tunable laser diode, i.e., a MOEMS consisting of laser diode and a silicon micromachined Fabry-Perot interferometer, is demonstrated and modeled. A ~4nm wavelength tuning range with ~0.3nm FWHM spectral width is experimentally obtained at 980 nm. Moreover, the use of a passive alignment structure for the fiber pigtailing of a multimode laser diode is demonstrated. The ceramic alignment structure is hot embossed with a LIGA machined tool and results in a ~56% coupling efficiency, corresponding to the theoretical maximum.
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