3D-Printed Holographic Fresnel Lenses

Additive manufacturing processes are capable of fabricating optical devices, including the production of contact lenses, waveguides, and Fresnel lenses used in a variety of applications. This study presents a novel fabrication method for high-quality Fresnel lenses through a vat photopolymerization 3D printing method. Here, the 3D printing process is integrated with the micro/nanostructure fabrication to produce 3D optical components with imprinted micro/nanostructures in a single step. This straightforward approach allows imprinting a micro-pattern (5 μm features size) onto the flat surface of a 3D-printed Fresnel lens, achieve light focusing properties along with holographic rainbow effects. The printed lenses achieve focal lengths within ≤8 mm deviation from the predicted values. Such holographic Fresnel lenses are highly desirable in imaging-based miniature spectrometers for mechanoluminescence sensoring. Thus, the masked stereolithography (MSLA) based 3D printing process can produce normal and holographic Fresnel lenses, vital in optical sensing and communication.