EP1567458A1 - Integrated simulation fabrication and characterization of micro and nano optical elements - Google Patents
Integrated simulation fabrication and characterization of micro and nano optical elementsInfo
- Publication number
- EP1567458A1 EP1567458A1 EP03796350A EP03796350A EP1567458A1 EP 1567458 A1 EP1567458 A1 EP 1567458A1 EP 03796350 A EP03796350 A EP 03796350A EP 03796350 A EP03796350 A EP 03796350A EP 1567458 A1 EP1567458 A1 EP 1567458A1
- Authority
- EP
- European Patent Office
- Prior art keywords
- fiber
- lens
- optical
- characterization
- field
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Withdrawn
Links
Classifications
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- G—PHYSICS
- G02—OPTICS
- G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
- G02B6/00—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings
- G02B6/24—Coupling light guides
- G02B6/26—Optical coupling means
- G02B6/262—Optical details of coupling light into, or out of, or between fibre ends, e.g. special fibre end shapes or associated optical elements
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- G—PHYSICS
- G02—OPTICS
- G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
- G02B6/00—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings
- G02B6/24—Coupling light guides
- G02B6/241—Light guide terminations
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G02—OPTICS
- G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
- G02B6/00—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings
- G02B6/24—Coupling light guides
- G02B6/255—Splicing of light guides, e.g. by fusion or bonding
- G02B6/2552—Splicing of light guides, e.g. by fusion or bonding reshaping or reforming of light guides for coupling using thermal heating, e.g. tapering, forming of a lens on light guide ends
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- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B82—NANOTECHNOLOGY
- B82Y—SPECIFIC USES OR APPLICATIONS OF NANOSTRUCTURES; MEASUREMENT OR ANALYSIS OF NANOSTRUCTURES; MANUFACTURE OR TREATMENT OF NANOSTRUCTURES
- B82Y20/00—Nanooptics, e.g. quantum optics or photonic crystals
Definitions
- the field of the invention is the fabrication of arbitrary micro and nano optical structures and devices as a result of the realization that integrated near-field/far-field optical imaging with on-line atomic force imaging and other scanned probe methods (SPM) can guide multistep processing of such optical elements.
- SPM scanned probe methods
- a crucial component in such processing is iterative theoretical simulations with constraints imposed by the near-field optical results.
- Patents as far back as 1986 [e.g., US Patent Number 4,589,897 to Mathyssek et al.] have attempted to try and address this problem.
- Mathyssek et al US Patent Number 4,589,897 simple constriction of the core and the cladding was achieved that resulted in a shape that was lens like at the tip of an optical fiber. This constriction was applied at some intermediate point between the two ends of the fiber. The control of the fiber lensing in such an operation was not effective and this process was improved upon by Presby US Patent #4,032,989.
- the Presby patent did not employ a constriction process as in Mathyssek et al US Patent Number 4,589,897 but used an ablative process with a laser at the tip of a fiber.
- the ablative process of Presby removes material as a fiber is rotated in the ablative laser beam.
- the process of ablation is emphasized in the patent of Presby by the fact, that as shown by Presby, the laser axis and axis of the fiber make an angle of greater than zero degrees and much less than 90 degrees. Zero degrees is having the laser axis and the fiber axis being parallel to each other and 90 degrees is having the laser and the fiber axis being perpendicular to each other.
- the patent specifically does not consider the critical geometry that is needed for the melting process which is a head on geometry which is 180 degrees in the geometrical arrangement of Presby or other melting geometries between 90 to 180 degrees.
- the patent further emphasizes ablation by the claim of the use of excimer lasers which are critical lasers for ablation of glass.
- the patent is aimed at forming lenses by laser machining that occurs as the tip of a fiber is rotated in a laser beam to form a refractive lens structure that is clearly seen in Figure 4 of the Presby patent.
- This lens structure is far from optimal both in terms of the geometry of the lens and in terms of the fact that the nature of the core is not affected by the procedure.
- Shiraishi et al US Patent #5,446,816 used a brute force solution. They formed a surface in an optical material which acted as a lens and then they inserted this into an appropriately constructed sleeve to emulate a core/cladding structure with optical properties that could emulate some of the variety of structures required in a fiber type geometry. It should be noted that the solution of Shiraishi et al is a solution that does not resolve the formation an integral fiber lens with the variations in the lens parameters that are needed today in the variety of applications that lens are used in.
- the prior art fails in several directions. First, it was impossible to guide a multi step process of micro or nano optical element formation to achieve the type of elements with the accuracy and repeatability that is required today. The prior art relied on one or another of the processes noted above but has never been able to effectively mesh these technologies to achieve the ultimate micro and nano optical solutions that are desired. In addition, the prior art has not recognized the crucial role of near-field optics together with other scanned probe methods and high resolution refractive index methods in guiding the theoretical simulations for micro and nano optical elements when far-field/paraxial approximations fail.
- Figure 1 illustrates a geometrical model of the tapered fiber lens of a hyperbolic shape described by two paramenters: taper angle (1.4) and the radius of curvature (1.5) at the height of the hyperbola.
- taper angle (1.4) and the radius of curvature (1.5) at the height of the hyperbola.
- the units in this figure in the x and y axis are in microns.
- Figure 3 illustrates the coupling efficiency as a function of waist diameter.
- Figure 4 illustrates a comparison of experimental and calculated data for dependence of fiber lens working distance via waist diameter for tapered core fiber lens.
- Figure 5 A illustrates the parameters can beadjusted to produce, with high accuracy, protrusions that are important in further steps of integral lens formation.
- Figure 5B illustrates the protrusion of Figure 5 A after a defined etching procedure.
- Figure 5C illustrates the final lens that is produced after laser melting of the structure in Figure 5B.
- Figure 6 is a collage of the topography (6.1) of the integral fiber lens with the light distribution at the lens surface (6.2) as monitored by the combination of near- field optical microscopy with integrated atomic force microscopy.
- Figure 7 illustrates deep ultraviolet laser stripping that allows fo highly accurate coating of the stripped fiber.
- Figure 8 illustrates a cantilevered lens fiber structure.
- Figure 9 is a represenation of a cylindrical lens as produced by the procedures described by the present invention.
- Figure 10 illustrates a nanindentation as a way to form defined structures on coating that are placed on fibers and other optical components. Dotted horizontal line (10.1) is placed just above the center of the nanoindenation as a guide.
- Figure 11 illustrates two structures, 11.1 and 11.2, that are solid immersion lens that were fomed by the procedures outlined in this patent.
- Figure 12 illustrates a mushroom lens made by the procedures disclosed by the present invention.
- Figure 13 illustrates a ball lens made by the procedures disclosed by the present invention.
- Figure 14 illustrates a multiple pronged (14.1) structured made by etching and tapering.
- Figure 15 illustrates a nanoparticle grown at the tip of a structure by procedures of this patent that can have the ability to have atomic foce sensitivity.
- Figure 16 illustrates a line-scan of the NSOM image in the focal plan of the multimode lensed fiber.
- Figure 17 illustrates a line-scan of the NSOM image in the focal plan of the single mode lensed fiber.
- Figure 18 illustrates a miniaturized prove fiber-device under test characterization system base on the principles of the characaterization methods described in this patent.
- Figure 19 illustrates a diagrammatic representation of confocal imaging scheme with fibers.
- the present invention describes an Optical Element Fabrication.
- a new theoretical understanding of the parameters that are important in fiber optical element including fiber lens production is the first inventive step of this patent.
- the theory presents a new approach based on an exact numerical field calculation inside and outside the fiber lens guided by constraints that are imposed by near-field optical characterization of the resulting elements. This is a powerful method for fiber lens analysis in terms of coupling efficiency, beam waist diameter and working distance. In this approach the dependence of these important characteristics from the parameters of the fiber lens can be studied. The theory then becomes a tool for designing, for example, an optimal fiber lens.
- the initial boundary condition on the left boundary inside the fiber was that the value of the field on this boundary coincides with the fundamental solution (HE ⁇ mode) for the single mode fiber.
- the initial boundary condition on the right boundary was according to the near-field optical and associated methodologies, was that the field on this boundary has a Gaussian form with the waist diameter equal to the laser spot size.
- the emerging wave from the fiber lens is focused 5 ⁇ (2.1) away from the end of the fiber (2.2) and has a waist diameter (2.3) that is as small as 2 ⁇ .
- the calculated coupling efficiency for this fiber lens is 80 %.
- an essential component in the theoretical developments are the hand in hand characterization of the near-field optical measurements associated with specifically designed fiber lens fabrication methods as highlighted in this section. The same is also the case with all such simulations, fabrication and near-field optical characterization of the elements described in this patent that have resulted from this invention.
- an inventive step of this patent is that the methodology of theoretical simulations with adjusted boundary conditions iteratively defined by near- field optics and its associated measurement techniques allows for: l.The availability of exact field calculations as an effective method for design of fiber lenses and other optical elements in which the general far-field optical approximations partially or completely fail.
- the application of integrated characterization tool is a critical part of the process which allows for highly accurate geometric and light profiling of the micro and/or nano optical structure at the surface, in the near-field or at specific distances above the micro and/or nano optical structure with little contribution from out-of-focus light so that the phase properties of the wavefront can accurately be characterized in a way that is totally integrated with atomic force topographic and scanned probe methods (SPM) for micro and or nanoscopic characterization including nano and micro heat sensing and/or with light wave measurements such as return loss, polarization dependent loss, coupling efficiency and other similar parameters and that these methods are also totally integrated with far-field optical characterization including high resolution refractive index imaging.
- SPM atomic force topographic and scanned probe methods
- This integration of the simulation, production and characterization is a realization that near-field optics within this context of integrated characterization, simulation and production is the critical missing link that facilitates such multistep procedures for micro and nano optical element production.
- a near-field optical aperture is a very small aperture that can be as small as 1/10 the wavelength of light.
- Such an aperture accepts light from a very wide angle and this means that the light that is collected only at the aperture has enough fluence to be detectable.
- the light that is collected by such an aperture is not contaminated by out-of-focus light that is even 1/10 th the wavelength of light away from the aperture.
- near-field optical methodology of the light distribution in one or more optical planes is a true measure of the intensity at different z sections.
- the near-field optical device is used to provide a stable source of light for the point spread function (PSF) of the far- field optical imaging system which can be based on confocal DIC or DIC with CCD imaging.
- PSF point spread function
- the PSF can be obtained with the device under test in place and this has never been possible previously.
- the device under test contributes significantly to the PSF and can alter the PSF at different locations in the sample so multiple measurements of the PSF at different locations on the sample may be needed for full theoretical analysis of the results by the theoretical procedures described above.
- glass-pulling technology or other technologies allow for the production of unique point sources that can add singular information on the optical properties of the far-field microscope especially for DIC.
- One such structure not to exclude other structures is the ability to produce a near-field optical element with two tapered fibers in order to deliver to the microscope two beams of controlled polarization and known shear vector. This allows for a true DIC PSF and is important for the achieving the highest accuracy in index of refraction measurements. All of this is possible since such glass structures or other silicon processing methods allow for these near-field element based points of light to be present on the optical axis without obstruction from the integral atomic force cantilever that keeps the point of light with extremely high stability relative to the sample being investigated by atomic force feedback.
- a DIC measurement can be vastly improved by the controlled positioning with for example an atomic force sensor of a particle that either alters locally and/or nanometrically the DIC image at one position and then at another position.
- This being completed a defined number of times and the result, together with the exact 3D position from the atomic force sensor, being used as a constraint for the theoretical calculations outlined above to define the optical properties of the device under test including the 3D phase image which is an accurate representation of the refractive index in 3D.
- 3D phase image which is an accurate representation of the refractive index in 3D.
- a conventional far-field imaging system with or without DIC or with and/or without non-linear optical phenomena such as for example second harmonic generation and simply block at certain controlled positions the rays of light reaching a detector in transmission or reflection mode and this information, together with the exact 3D position from the atomic force sensor, can be used as a constraint with the calculations above to deconvolve high resolution image of the device under test.
- This approach also can be used effectively with difference techniques where the blocking is used together with differences in intensity when the probe is generally transparent but has a nanometric or larger opaque particle at its tip that either blocks or does not block the rays of the far-field imaging system from the position on the sample.
- the near-field optical element can be combined with fiber couplers etc to allow mixing of collected light that is illuminating the device under test in order to investigate phase properties also in the manner of a fiber interferometer with one of the arms being a near-field optical device.
- an important aspect of this invention is the realization of the criticality of near-field optics as part of micro and nano fiber or other lens or other optical element production with defined properties and such definition was impossible before this invention.
- the fiber lens parameters depend now on the taper angle of the core, taper angle of the cladding, which is now independent of the core taper angle and the radius of curvature of the cladding.
- This allows for many advantages including the reduction of the waist diameter to be less than 3.5 microns, which has not been achieved by any method before this patent.
- such manipulation allows for large coupling efficiencies to be achieved greater than 80 % between an appropriate active waveguide (a laser) and the fiber lens acting as a collector or injecting light into a passive waveguide.
- Another result of this invention is that such ultrasmall diameters can be achieved with a control of the focal spot to a diameter of 0.25 microns in the wavelength regime of interest to the telecommunication industry between 1.3 and 1.6 microns. This has also been impossible previously even for larger spot sizes. Nonetheless, to achieve such control is crucial for the type of coupling efficiencies demanded by this industry and without this invention there was no way to know what combination of the above parameters have to be employed in order to achieve these results.
- One emulation of this invention is when the tapering of the fiber is done under laser heating with defined tension and defined cooling. For achieving the characteristics needed for this goal the heat has to be kept at a minimum while the tension is kept at a maximum with a cooling that has to be optimally controlled based on the results of the near-field optical characterization and its associated methodologies and the iterative theoretical simulations.
- the pulling gives a specific angle of taper to the fiber tip.
- the control of this waist diameter to a level of + 0.25 microns depends on the exact characteristics of the taper and this needs to be accurately simulated and characterized together with the waist diameter of the beam and these parameters can be measured by including near-field optics and its associated techniques in this loop of iteration.
- the technology allows for lensing with high accuracy of the lens position to the point of the fiber that can be stripped with extreme accuracy of a few tenths of a micron (7.1) using laser ablation of the stripped fiber with deep ultraviolet lasers Figure 7.
- Cantilevering (8.1) the fiber can be achieved to direct the light at an angle relative to the direction of the main length of fiber ( Figure 8).
- One set of parameters not to exclude others is fiber bending at angles that can be varied from 90 ° to 0 ° (i.e. no bending).
- the lens made by the above procedure is subsequently polished from two sides (180°) from one another and then another laser step is introduced to smooth the rough polished surface to achieve the control and optical quality that is desired.
- another laser step is introduced to smooth the rough polished surface to achieve the control and optical quality that is desired.
- the combination also permits the achievement of optical phenomena in which not only can lenses be made with preservation of the polarization of a polarization preserving fiber but also conditions in which polarization can be achieved through a lens without the use of polarization preserving fibers.
- the deposition of metals on the stripped fiber for soldering and other requirements including magnetic attraction can be achieved with high accuracy relative to such fiber lenses both in terms of vacuum deposition and electrochemical and electro less depositions if the criticality of the characterization described above is applied in a closed loop to such fiber lens metallization.
- These depositions can be used to achieve hermetic seals to various packaging by combination with electrochemical deposition and the galvana plastic deposition of materials such that the material is deposited in a plastic form. They can also be used to achieve 3D depositions of the fiber by soft lithography techniques or controlled vacuum techniques with rotation together with the lensing procedures invented in this patent.
- the resulting structures can also be laser welded.
- the resulting structures can be controlled in terms of their optical output in an iterative way if the structure of the fiber aperture achieved is complexed with the light input and output both in terms of intensity and/or distribution.
- This will permit automation of such aperture formation using either nanoindentation procedures or other procedures that could produce nano openings and these include focused ion beam, chemical etching etc.
- a femtosecond laser can be used to produce a nanodimension opening using non-linear ablation.
- a process of laser or heat assisted nanoindentation is possible in which a device makes the nanoimpression and a laser or other device is used to transiently metlt the surface in which the indentation is to be created.
- the metal depositions can completely cover the lensed or the unlensed fiber tip or waveguides so that an aperture or apertures can be formed on these structures by coating the device fully with metal and then dipping the fiber tip in a solution that will deposit a resin or other viscous solution on the surface such that at the lens because of its angles and interactions is not coated with the viscous solution and so a small region of the metal coating can be exposed and etched allowing for the coating to be in close proximity to the lens preventing subsequent problems such as vibrations and other mechanical or similar problems.
- the invention with its ability to combine simulation with fabrication and highly accurate characterization, also allows the integration of near-field optical photoalteration and/or atomic force microscopic lithography as a tool to add Fresnel and diffractive optical capabilities to the tip of a fiber either tapered, polished, untapered, previously lensed or unlensed.
- the fiber can be moved relative to a near-field optical tip through which a laser such as deep UV laser is passed.
- a laser such as deep UV laser is passed.
- This permits the formation of an altered index of refraction at the tip of the appropriate fiber with a resolution that is sufficient to form a Fresnel lens or the formation of a pattern to form a diffractive optical surface.
- a deep UV fiber with a lens produced by this procedure or chemical etching or atomic force lithography or focused ion beam or any other method or combination of these methods that can change the refractive index and or the topography of the core of the fiber with sufficient resolution can be used to produce such a Fresnel or diffractive lens.
- These lenses can be inserted into laser and mechanically polished tips in order to combine lenses with the beam splitters described above or other optical components at the tip of a fiber.
- An example is the formation at the end of a fiber for example of a diffractive optical structure in silver or gold or aluminum with an appropriate coating of a dielectric and an aperture appropriately placed.
- This could allow for the manipulation of the light by an interplay between the aperture light transmission and the plasmon characteristics of the metal for obtaining unique light manipulation.
- the dielectric material and the metal thickness and the number of layers can be modulated in order to achieve a match with the wavelength that needs to be manipulated.
- Such manipulation can range from no dielectric and only one layer of metal to different numbers of dielectric and metal layers with a variety of thicknesses depending on what characteristics are desired. All of this is guided by simulation and the near-field optical and SPM measurements that are the crucial component in this patent.
- All of these unique lenses can be combined, as with all the lenses above, with and without Bragg gratings written into the fiber in the path of the fiber before the lens.
- the variety of procedures that the simulation and characterization of this invention allow permit the selection and order of the methodologies in order to lens a fiber Bragg grating without erasing the grating.
- the Fresnel or diffractive optical element can be produced on another fiber, which is spliced to the fiber in question.
- the processes described above can produce a solid immersion lens with high index fibers.
- a ball can be formed at the end of the fiber by laser melting and the ball can be subsequently polished by a combination of mechanical and laser polishing to produce a flat mushroom head that can act as a solid immersion lens.
- the ability to combine mechanical and laser polishing is crucial here since the surface of the polished surface has to be made optically of good quality with laser polishing.
- an essential component is for the solid immersion lens to be simulated and characterized by the characterization tools described above without which the characteristics of the lens cannot be effectively achieved.
- such a lens (11.1) can also be placed at the end of a cantilevered fiber ( Figure 11) to provide the additional sensitivity of an integral atomic force sensor so that the solid immersion lens can be brought in contact or can closely approach a surface and also to sensitively align this lens relative to the illuminating microscope objective.
- solid immersion lenses can be made with various polishing combinations, as described in this patent, so that it could have other geometries such that the flat surface can be polished to a tip and coatings can be applied if so desired.
- These lenses can also be combined with Fresnel and diffractive lens characteristics.
- mushroom or ball lenses can be achieved with tapering and lensing with fibers and hollow tapered micropipettes and fibers where the subsequent heating with a laser can be used to form a mushroom (12.1) (see Figure 12) or ball lens (13.1) that can be used as a collimator with a handle (see Figure 13).
- a ball lens can be used to provide combinations unachievable by other methods such as large fibers that have tapers to concentrate light combined with lenses. Simulation and characterization can produce controlled divergence and subsequent ball lenses as described here can produce collimation.
- An example of one application of this aspect of the invention is the need to concentrate large light sources into collimated light sources to enter devices such as fibers with smaller diameters.
- the methods described in this patent in which the essential components of simulation and near-field and associated characterization are used to guide the fabrication as described above, can produce a lensed fiber in which the spot size at the focus is the same as the core diameter at a distance of upto 50 microns.
- Such ball lenses can be used as one such lens or multiple such lenses.
- an integral fiber lens can be integrated with a ball lens to get a collimated beam of light that can then be used with a second ball lens or regular lens to get a very small diffraction limited spot size.
- Such combinations can also allow for a working distance of an integral fiber lens to be extended.
- a silver nitrate solution can be introduced into the appropriately tapered pipette and the pipette is inserted into a sugar solution for controlled lengths of time to form a nano seed of silver (14.1) (see Figure 14).
- This nanoseed can then be grown by electroless methods into a controlled nanoparticle of gold or silver or aluminum or a variety of metals that have plasmon resonances that can be used to concentrate light.
- emulations include various combinations of illumination, heat etc during nanoparticle formation at the tip of these structures and these can alter the characteristics of the particle and is also an important part of the invention.
- the structure allows for the insertion of liquid in the hollow pipette structure to act as a cooling agent for the nanoparticle during illumination.
- hollow tapered pipettes or other such devices in materials, that are not glass and that are cantilevered or not cantilevered can be used to produce apertured waveguides by molding.
- a tapered micropipette or other similar hollow device is coated with a metal or an opaque substance for the optical radiation that is being used.
- the hollow cavity is then filled with a liquid that will form into the shape of the hollow region.
- This liquid can be a melt or a solution that will turn into a plastic or any other material that will have similar qualities, i.e. a liquid that will harden into the structure of the hollow region. If the material that will harden will have after hardening a larger index of refraction it will act as a waveguide and the light will be confined by the opaque material surrounding the tapered pipette or hollow cavity. Obviously the simulation and the near-field optical and other characterization techniques are crucial in defining the structure, the refractive index and the light modulating properties of such devices.
- tapered or untapered pipettes or other hollow devices could be filled with such hardening materials and with controlled pressure and controlled wetting the extent that the liquid will exit the opening can be controlled. If the exit of the hollow device filled with the liquid is then placed on a mold the exiting liquid will fill the mold and harden to form an optical element.
- multiple such hollow tubes and multiple such molds can be used to automate making multiple device and/or to make multiple device arrays.
- the essential characterization component of this patent can be used to characterize micro and nano lens arrays which are made with or without molds or with or without hollow tubes to make an individual micro or nano optical device or arrays of such devices and these characterization techniques are crucial for making such devices that were difficult or unable to achieve with the accuracy that is needed in today's industry.
- the amount of liquid exiting can be controlled to the extent of nanometric dimensions and then coated with metal, to make in one emulation, at the tip of say a force sensing device a nanometric dielectric ball covered by a metallic coating to adjust the plasmon resonance to the wavelength of the laser being employed.
- the number of modes that a multimode fiber can support depends on its numerical aperture (NA), on the wavelength of light ( ⁇ ) and on its core radius (r). The smaller the core radius, the less the number of modes that the multimode fiber can support. If the core radius is less than some critical value then only a single mode can be supported by the fiber.
- NA numerical aperture
- ⁇ wavelength of light
- r core radius
- the core radius gradually changes from large to small. When the core radius in such a fiber becomes smaller than the above- mentioned critical value, only a single mode can propagate in the fiber. [0109] The interesting question here is what happens with the rest of the modes in the tapered multimode fiber. One can think that the higher modes will reflects back in the tapered region of the fiber or its energy will diffuse to the cladding region. [0110] Part of this invention are parameters of the tapered multimode fiber (tapered angle and radius of curvature at the end of the fiber) under which the multimode fiber acts as a transmitter or coupler from the multimode to the single mode regime with as high a coupling efficiency as 50 percent or higher. In such a device higher modes inside the multimode region of the fiber gradually transform into a single mode as the end of the tapered fiber is approached.
- a near-field optical system completely integrated with far-field optical characterization and with atomic force imaging and other scanned probe methods (SPM) can be used. Often however simpler devices for this particular application are required.
- SPM scanned probe methods
- a simple device that allows for active feedback to keep the device under test and the probe fiber in highly stable contact without pigtailing consists of a probe holder 17.1 and a device under test holder 17.2 that is composed of structures that permit atomic force sensing between the probe and the device under test.
- the probe fiber can be glued to a tuning fork for feedback or can be illuminated with a probe laser beam.
- the probe fiber sits in a piezoelectric device, 17.3, and is modulated a few Angstroms relative to the face of the device under test.
- the piezo device as shown in 17.3 can be a cylindrical piezo device that has x, y and z motion. As the probe fiber approaches the device under test the frequency and amplitude of the modulation changes and this is monitored by either the tuning fork or the probe laser.
- a preferred embodiment of this invention is that the probe fiber is not glued to the tuning fork but rather the tuning fork and the probe fiber are both held in piezoelectric devices that can bring the probe fiber and the tuning in close proximity to one another until the tuning senses the probe fiber. Then as the probe fiber is slightly modulated in close proximity to the tuning fork it approaches the device under test. When it gets in close proximity to the device under the test the tuning responds to the change and the feedback loop is engaged to keep the probe fiber with greater stability (upto 0.002 dB) relative to the device under test.
- near-field optical profiling, light wave measurements for return loss etc (which, as part of this invention, are also very important for monitoring the nature of the optical surfaces produced in the optical elements that are generated and other parameters both near and far-field including topography can be measured without pigtailing.
- the atomic force sensing acts as an electronic glue to keep the device and the probe steady with respect to one another.
- the device allows for stability, repeatability and reproducibility with upto 0.002 dB.
- the device also allows for on-line viewing of the probe and device under test with an optical imaging system (not shown in Figure 17).
- the device that measures the position of the probe fiber can be a lensed fiber itself as described in this patent or two lensed fibers as can be produced by pulling fibers in a two channel micropipette by the procedures in this patent.
- the probe fiber position can be accurately measured as it approaches a surface. This is accomplished by sending light through these devices onto the probe fiber and then measuring the reflected or the transmitted light so that as the probe fiber frequency, amplitude and/or position changes as it approaches the sample.
- the probe fiber and the detecting and illuminating fiber can be either glued together at the appropriate position or held with piezo devices at a defined position.
- the essential invention in this and other devices is the realization that today the worlds of nanopositioning, light wave measurements and imaging are separate worlds and this invention integrates and brings these worlds together. Also as part of this invention is the realization that these devices that affect such an integration allow for on line tests and measurements of the type described in this patent as an important part of the manufacturing process in which one device is connected to another device with appropriate means. In this vein it is important to realize that other emulations will allow for three column devices in which one device and two fibers could be handled in one system. [0120] All of the procedures described above are easily amenable to automatic fabrication.
- This invention includes a complete automated system that includes each of the steps or combinations of steps from the theory of simulation of fiber lenses that is included in a program of a computer controlling the automated process to characterization as described in this patent and complex fiber handling including pickup etc, tapering under tension and heat, etching, controlled lensing of protrusions, mechanical polishing, laser scribing, etc including all the steps described in this patent.
- the critical components in the process are the simulation and characterization methodologies described in this patent. These allow in an interative fashion the production of the optical elements described in this patent in an automatic fashion. They work even more efficiently in an automated machine based on these principles since the iteration reaches its ultimate efficiency. In addition an automatic machine also blends very effectively with making multiple lenses on a fiber bundle.
- One of the results of the optical elements that can be achieved by the inventions of this patent are extremely small spot size lenses that are integral with optical fibers. As noted above diffraction limited spot sizes can be achieved. This means that in the visible region of the spectrum this can be as small as 0.5 microns. In addition as noted in section 5.2.A.1.C these structures can be cantilevered.
- the optical path in such a SLIC microscope would be that the light would be passed through the fiber and collected by the same fiber and then put either through a fiber splitter or a dichroic filter. This would also include returning fluorescent light.
- the lensed fiber could be cantilevered if it is to be slipped under the lens of an upright microscope or it can be placed on an inverted microscope or placed opposite from the lens of an upright microscope.
- An alternate emulation would be to place a fiber (19.1) with or without a lens in a piezo tube scanner or other device capable of scanning a fiber (19.2) for scanning and this combination is placed in a port of a microscope or similar device.
- the tube lens of a microscope or a ball lens (19.3) as described in section 5.7 would make a parallel beam (19.4) and then the objective lens of a microscope or another ball lens (19.5) will create a spot on the sample (19.6).
- the piezo tube scanner could scan the beam and the lens of the microscope can cause a focused spot. Such a combination could form a diffraction limited spot on the sample and the lens could collect the light with high efficiency and send it back through the fiber through which the illumination was accomplished.
- a fiber splitter could separate the excitation and the detection.
- the channels of illumination and detection could also be separate. With the illumination through the fiber and the detection through another channel which can be attached to another optical path in the microscope which can have a large area detector including a charge coupled device for detection.
- the scan of the fiber can be adjusted to fall on a different pixel of the charge coupled device and the software for reading the charge coupled device is adjusted to register the fiber position with the pixel of the device or some other software or hardware arrangement that permits knowing the pixel being illuminated. Also multiple fibers can be scanned also to get more parallel illumination.
- Such a system that creates a diffraction limited spot is important not only for the highest resolution and/or super-resolution beam scanning confocal microscopy with the highest throughput but, also in terms of the invention described in 5.2.A.lb, of blocking the radiation with an opaque particle such high resolution confocal imaging is essential. In this later case it is better to scan the sample while keeping the fiber illuminator here fixed. Alternately, one can scan the particle in concert with the fiber beam scanner described in this section.
- the combination of these two inventions of very high resolution, very high througput confocal with radiation blocking for imaging allows for new instrumentation and new resolution barriers to be crossed in optical imaging.
- the blocking by a particle can be done in intermittent contact mode so that data can be collected at different positions of the probe to the surface and difference images can be generated from the collected data. It is also possible that the particle can be scanned in unison with the fiber. It is also possible to use multiple fibers and multiple or particles. Also in another emulation the particle can be a particle that enhances rather than obscures the signal and this would occur if the particle had a plasmon resonance at the frequency of illumination. [0127] Obviously the devices described in this section in all emulations could also be used for mulitphoton microscopy. In all cases in this approach the lens sample distance can be adjusted to view different optical planes.
- the technique described in this section can be very effectively applied to data storage applications including magnetic storage in read only or read and write systems with and without the use of opaque or enhancing particles.
- magnetic optical storage writing of bits can be modulated with a nanometrically controlled opaque particle that can be raised from the surface for heating directly with the illumination or illuminated with higher intensity while the particle is on the surface to transfer heat to the surface for writing.
- the position of the particle can be modulated either by varying the speed in flying head technology or some other active or passive feedback technique with the particle position adjusted either for writing or for high resolution reading.
- other emulations can be conceived with the particle being an enhancing particle with a plasmon resonance at the frequency of illumination.
- lensed fibers based on the inventive steps of this patent also has implications for other light scanning devices such as scanners for printers, copiers etc. For such applications the invention considers also lensed fiber bundles that could also be of use in such light scanning devices.
- the developments in this patent of integral lensed fibers with and without cantilevers and the diffraction limited performance that these lenses can achieve can give very high resolution spot sizes with these spot sizes being even smaller at shorter wavelengths.
- these micro lenses are not only have inherent minimal aberration because of their size but also are produced with such high quality because of the simulation, the characterization and the multi step methodologies that are a critical part of this patent.
- these geometries of cantilevered fibers with such high quality integral lenses form very good elements for presently available flying head technology in data storage devices.
- passive feedback can raise the integral lens fiber that can be made with a short focal distance.
- a fiber based solid immersion lens can be made with the very light properties of a fiber and again this could be complexed to flying head technology of data storage which could keep the solid immersion lens in the near-field.
- the devices described in this patent can also be coated with multiple layers of metal isolated with layers of a dielectric such as silicon dioxide with contacts of the metal layers at the lens of the device.
- Such devices can act also as optical and thermal sensing devices and such devices can be made with force constants that will allow either in their cantilevered or straight form for the devices to act as atomic force sensors for measuring topography and other scanned probe microscopy parameters such as electrical properties.
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- Optical Fibers, Optical Fiber Cores, And Optical Fiber Bundles (AREA)
Abstract
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IL15267502 | 2002-11-06 | ||
IL15267502A IL152675A0 (en) | 2002-11-06 | 2002-11-06 | Integrated simulation fabrication and characterization of micro and nanooptical elements |
PCT/US2003/032741 WO2004048285A1 (en) | 2002-11-06 | 2003-11-06 | Integrated simulation fabrication and characterization of micro and nano optical elements |
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EP1567458A1 true EP1567458A1 (en) | 2005-08-31 |
EP1567458A4 EP1567458A4 (en) | 2008-12-17 |
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EP (1) | EP1567458A4 (en) |
JP (2) | JP2006515682A (en) |
AU (1) | AU2003298599A1 (en) |
IL (1) | IL152675A0 (en) |
WO (1) | WO2004048285A1 (en) |
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JP5033609B2 (en) | 2007-03-12 | 2012-09-26 | 株式会社日立製作所 | Scanning probe microscope and sample observation method using the same |
US7522813B1 (en) * | 2007-10-04 | 2009-04-21 | University Of Washington | Reducing distortion in scanning fiber devices |
JP5216509B2 (en) | 2008-03-05 | 2013-06-19 | 株式会社日立製作所 | Scanning probe microscope and sample observation method using the same |
US7729055B2 (en) | 2008-03-20 | 2010-06-01 | Aptina Imaging Corporation | Method and apparatus providing concave microlenses for semiconductor imaging devices |
JP5292128B2 (en) | 2009-02-25 | 2013-09-18 | 株式会社日立製作所 | Scanning probe microscope and sample observation method using the same |
US20110178509A1 (en) * | 2009-11-18 | 2011-07-21 | Zerfas Jeffrey W | Methods and apparatus related to a distal end portion of an optical fiber having a substantially spherical shape |
US9136794B2 (en) | 2011-06-22 | 2015-09-15 | Research Triangle Institute, International | Bipolar microelectronic device |
US20130164457A1 (en) * | 2011-12-27 | 2013-06-27 | Rigaku Innovative Technologies, Inc. | Method of manufacturing patterned x-ray optical elements |
US9649639B2 (en) | 2012-02-03 | 2017-05-16 | Corning Incorporated | Separation apparatus and methods of separating magnetic material |
JP6014502B2 (en) | 2013-01-25 | 2016-10-25 | 株式会社日立製作所 | Scanning probe microscope and sample observation method using the same |
CN106483340B (en) * | 2016-08-05 | 2018-11-20 | 南开大学 | Logarithmic non linear metal bores probe |
CN106841688B (en) * | 2017-01-19 | 2019-03-29 | 南开大学 | The non-linear nano metal of e index type bores probe |
JP7159260B2 (en) * | 2020-10-30 | 2022-10-24 | ナノフォーム フィンランド オサケユイチアユルキネン | Apparatus and method for characterizing surface and subsurface structures |
WO2022246564A1 (en) * | 2021-05-27 | 2022-12-01 | UNIVERSITé LAVAL | Lensed optical fiber taper and methods of manufacturing same |
CN114296184B (en) * | 2022-02-14 | 2023-07-28 | 西北工业大学 | Integrated photonics device for realizing coupling of polarization splitting and waveguide |
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US4886537A (en) * | 1988-04-21 | 1989-12-12 | The United States Of America As Represented By The Secretary Of The Army | Method of making wide angle and graded acuity intensifier tubes |
JP3375213B2 (en) * | 1994-09-16 | 2003-02-10 | 並木精密宝石株式会社 | Fiber with lens |
US5751871A (en) * | 1996-01-05 | 1998-05-12 | Ceram Optec Industries, Inc. | Method for coupling of semiconductor lasers into optical fibers |
US5784837A (en) * | 1996-01-24 | 1998-07-28 | Klein; Darrel J. | Collapsible transportable deck for a house trailer or mobile home |
JP4532738B2 (en) * | 1998-07-30 | 2010-08-25 | コーニング インコーポレイテッド | Method for manufacturing photonics structure |
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- 2003-11-06 WO PCT/US2003/032741 patent/WO2004048285A1/en active Application Filing
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WO2004048285A1 (en) | 2004-06-10 |
AU2003298599A1 (en) | 2004-06-18 |
IL152675A0 (en) | 2004-08-31 |
EP1567458A4 (en) | 2008-12-17 |
JP2010224548A (en) | 2010-10-07 |
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