Polymeric synthesis of biomimetic artificial compound eyes

Biologically inspired compound eyes have been developed by a 3D microfabrication method, which mimicking the unique optical scheme of the natural compound eyes found in many insects. The combination of polymer microlenses, reconfigurable microtemplating, soft lithography and self-written waveguides by self-aligned 3D optical polymerization step enables the realization of complicated optical structures with thousands of omni-directional self-aligned microlens and waveguide arrays in a photosensitive polymer resin. The characterizations of artificial ommatidia and compound eyes have been carried out with a modified reflection/transmission confocal microscope. This work offers a promising new paradigm for constructing miniaturized optical systems for omni-directional detection, wide field-of-view or fast motion detection.