ABSTRACT
In Chapter 1, we mentioned that the area of microoptics constitutes a much larger topic that includes devices and applications beyond the intended scope of this book. Our main objective was to concentrate on fabrication and application of the important subset of microoptics; namely, microlenses. A nonexhaustive listing of microoptical elements of importance is given in Table 7.1 along with an important application area. However, many of the methods of lens fabrication described in the previous chapters are equally applicable to making some of these microoptical elements. Two important structures for which this is true are gratings and planar waveguides. The implementation of the former leads to devices that can be used to redirect light, select out specific wavelengths, or both. The fabrication of the latter in various configurations leads to optical devices such as demultiplexers, directional couplers, and splitters [1,2].
