Artificial Compound Eye

Biologically inspired compound eyes have been developed by a novel 3D microfabrication method, which is inspired by 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 photo-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.

(A) Spherical arrangement of artificial ommatidia on hemispherical polymer dome of 2.5 mm in diameter with artificial ommatidia of 8,370 and (B) a cross-section image with the spherical arrangement of artificial ommatidia consisting of microlenses, polymer cones, and waveguide arrays, and (C) a confocal image of the backside of an artificial compound eye showing microlenses, polymer cones and polymer waveguides.

References:

1. Luke P. Lee and Robert Szema, “Inspirations from Biological Optics for Advanced Photonic Systems,” Science, vol. 310, no. 5751, 1148 – 1150 (2005) (selected as cover page article).
2. Ki-Hun Jeong, Jaeyoun Kim, Luke P. Lee, “Biologically Inspired Artificial Compound Eyes,” Science, vol. 312, p. 557-561 (2006).
3. Jaeyoun Kim, Ki-Hun Jeong, Luke P. Lee, “Artificial Ommatidia by Self-aligned Microlenses and Waveguides,” Optics Letters, vol. 30 (1), 5-7 (2005).