Biologically Inspired Artificial Compound Eyes
Ki-Hun Jeong,
Jaeyoun Kim,
Luke P. Lee*
This work presents the fabrication of biologically inspired
artificial compound eyes. The artificial ommatidium, like that
of an insect's compound eyes, consists of a refractive polymer
microlens, a light-guiding polymer cone, and a self-aligned
waveguide to collect light with a small angular acceptance.
The ommatidia are omnidirectionally arranged along a hemispherical
polymer dome such that they provide a wide field of view similar
to that of a natural compound eye. The spherical configuration
of the microlenses is accomplished by reconfigurable microtemplating,
that is, polymer replication using the deformed elastomer membrane
with microlens patterns. The formation of polymer waveguides
self-aligned with microlenses is also realized by a self-writing
process in a photosensitive polymer resin. The angular acceptance
is directly measured by three-dimensional optical sectioning
with a confocal microscope, and the detailed optical characteristics
are studied in comparison with a natural compound eye.
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: lplee{at}socrates.berkeley.edu
