Intergration of micro-optical elements on an optical fiber tip using DMD-based maskless lithography

This paper reports a facile and low-cost technique for fabrication of micro-optical elements on the tip of an optical fiber using maskless UV exposure system. The Digital Micromirror Device (DMD) based maskless lithography system was employed to fabricate two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) microstructures. Based on this approach, various microstructures such as line arrays, concentric ring, and micro-photonic structures were successfully fabricated onto the fiber tips. This fabrication technique can be extended to develop miniaturized photonic devices for bioimaging or fiber-based sensing applications with rapid and inexpensive manner.