We report the development of a series of nanoparticle-free optical polymers with a high refractive index (n = 1.7 ~ 1.8) and high optical transparency for direct patterning and nanoimprint lithography applications. The polymer is ultraviolet-curable and contains no metal oxide fillers. It is one of the polymers with the highest refractive index value available amongst commercial filler-free materials. This new polymer can be patterned via photolithography and electron beam lithography, becoming the first high refractive index polymer with capabilities as a negative tone resist. These properties allow fast and easy prototyping and manufacturing of high refractive index optical devices, including microlens arrays, photonic integrated circuits, etc.
HighRI Optics reports the development of a polymer with a high refractive index (n = 1.80) and high optical transparency for direct patterning applications. The polymer can be ultraviolet curable and contains no metal oxide fillers. It is one of the polymers with the highest refractive index value available amongst commercial filler-free materials. This new polymer can be patterned via photolithography and electron beam lithography, becoming the first high refractive index polymer with capabilities as a negative tone resist. These properties allow fast and easy prototyping and manufacturing of high refractive index optical devices, including microlens arrays, photonic integrated circuits, etc.
The optics and photonics fields have been greatly developed in recent years leading to novel devices and applications for organic light emitting devices (OLEDs), high performance screens and virtual and augmented. The further development of these areas will be greatly advanced with the design, synthesis, and engineering of new optical materials with enhanced performance and excellent properties including high refractive index. The development of high refractive index materials is very challenging due to the high light absorption of the molecules and atoms required in the design of the molecular structure. Besides high refractive index and transparency, the synthesized materials must be easily processable, cost-effective, have long shelf-life and durability under extreme l conditions. These materials need to be easily nanopatterned with high resolutions and fidelity with a high throughput. We present the development of purely organic polymers with high refractive index for nanoimprint lithography. They are the organic polymers with the highest refractive index commercially available. The proposed materials are transparent in visible wavelengths, can be nanoimprinted with high resolution and have good durability for promising long service life stability. They can be spin-on or solvent-free materials. The developed high refractive index polymers can serve as an organic matrix for inorganic nanocrystals to create nanocomposites with even higher refractive indices. These materials represent the state-of-the-art in functional materials for nanoimprint lithography with applications in advanced photonics and will push the progression of several fields requiring high refractive index configurations including virtual and augmented reality.
Advancements in communication and quantum computing have led to the need for efficient quantum networks. Superconducting qubits are vital for quantum computation and require converting microwave states to optical states for long-distance communication. However, current coupling techniques suffer from high photon loss and scattering, hindering their efficiency. A fiber-to-chip coupler (FCC) is essential to achieve high coupling efficiency. To address this, a novel high refractive index lens (1.85 refractive index at 1550 nm) imprinted on a fiber end facet is proposed, enabling efficient light coupling to a waveguide. This approach allows shorter wavelengths due to the operation of the lens in the bonding medium, resulting in superior coupling efficiency. The new method aims to develop a robust packaging process for quantum communication networks that can operate at the millikelvin level.
We report on a compact, on-chip, and inexpensive Raman spectrometer platform that provides 6 orders of magnitude enhancement of Raman signal in the near-IR spectral range of 0.7-1.2μm with a laser excitation of 785 nm. It is based on microring resonators integrated with sinusoidal photonic crystal (MRR-SPC) both in the ring-resonator and in the bus waveguide. A low-loss Si3N4 waveguide is chosen to meet the requirements of high index contrast and ultracompact design. The proposed MRR-SPC can find its applications in bio/chemical ware fare sensing, chemical sensing, lab-on-a-chip systems for mobile and portable devices.
Over the last two decades, the need for high-throughput and high-fidelity fabrication technology for micro and nano surface topologies designed for various photonic and optoelectronic devices has steadily driven the advancement of nanoimprint lithography technology (NIL). The availability of a functional high refractive index resin can enable high-volume and lowcost production of micro and nano-optical devices. However, available NIL-compatible resists have not kept up with the consumer industry's growing performance, processability, and reliability demands. In particular, for Augmented and Mixed Reality (AR and MR) devices, for the best optical performance (i.e., enhanced user experience) and reasonably low-cost production, a refractive index higher than 1.80 in the NIL resin is often desired. HighRI Optics, Inc. has developed two classes of materials with ultra-high refractive index, from 1.8 to 2.00 at 590 nm, for the nanoimprinting of photonic devices: 1) purely organic polymers and 2) nanocomposites consisting of polymeric matrix containing inorganic nanocrystals. The purely organic materials with a 1.8 refractive index do not contain nanoparticles, exhibit high transparency in the visible wavelength, and are NIL processable. The organic formulation has the highest refractive index ever reported among the organic polymers for nanoimprint lithography. The nanocomposites exhibit tunable refractive index values between 1.8 ~ 2.0 at 590 nm, with high optical transparency and low haze. These materials can become an essential part of the ecosystem to enable the mass production of future photonic devices.
KEYWORDS: Near field scanning optical microscopy, Near field optics, Near field, Atomic force microscopy, Integrated optics, Wafer-level optics, Transformers, Temporal resolution, Spectroscopy, Spatial resolution
Near-field scanning optical microscopy (NSOM) is a powerful technique to characterize the chemical and physical properties of materials with nanometer-scale resolution. Adaptation of NSOM has remained mainly in research labs partly due to a lack of commercial availability of high-quality probes. We present a wafer-scale realization of Campanile near-field probes. Campanile probes offer a strong local electromagnetic field enhancement, efficient far-field to near-field coupling, nanoscale spatial resolution, background-free operation, and broadband photon-plasmon coupling to enable high spatial and temporal resolution. The near-field optical mapping of dark-excitonic states of WSe2 monolayers is presented as a use-case example.
Optically transparent polymers with a high refractive index can find a broad range of applications in optoelectronics. The majority of available polymers present lower refractive index values ranging from 1.50 to 1.60. Here, we demonstrate the development of organic polymers with a high refractive index (up to 1.90) for thin-film applications. The synthesized polymers show high transparency in the visible wavelength and are entirely nanoparticle free.
They are among the organic polymers with the highest refractive index ever reported. The developed polymers can be nanopatterned via nanoimprint lithography, a powerful method to fabricate nanostructures following a simple and scalable process.
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