| Microlenses have been developed in the past and play an important role in many fields, including optical communication, photolithography, imaging systems and lab on chips. Microlenses with fixed focal length and tunable focus have their individual applications. Several methods and mechanisms have been reported to realize microlenses; however, they have their advantages and disadvantages.;In this work, two kinds of microlenses are studied: microlens arrays with fixed focal length and liquid tunable-focus microlenses actuated by stimuli-responsive hydrogels. The design, fabrication, testing and applications of these microlenses are explored.;The gist of these microlenses is to utilize surface tension of liquid-air and/or immiscible liquid-liquid interfaces because surface tension dominates over gravity at the micro-scale. Microlens arrays with fixed focal length, made of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), are fabricated through liquid-phase photopolymerization and molding. Liquid menisci of photopolymerizable solutions at liquid-air interfaces are first formed and cured under ultraviolet (UV) radiance to obtain the mold. The resultant polymerized mold is then transferred to PDMS utilizing two molding steps to form a microlens array.;The liquid tunable-focus microlens is formed by a water-oil interface that is pinned at a hydrophobic-hydrophilic boundary at the top edge of an aperture. Multiple hydrogel microstructures, whose volume is responsive to a certain stimuli, are formed around the lens aperture under UV radiance and regulate the pressure across the meniscus of the water-oil interface, varying the focal length of the microlens. The liquid tunable-focus microlenses responsive to infrared (IR) light are integrated at the end of fiber endoscopes and can scan the areas of interest with minimal back-and-forth movements of the scopes themselves. The operation of the microlens and the image acquisition are realized through light transmitted via optical fibers. Benefitting from variable focal length of the microlenses, different depth of focus (DOF) and thus spatial depth perception can be obtained from images, which would greatly advance endoscopy for surgery.;Furthermore, the liquid tunable-focus microlenses actuated by the thermo-responsive hydrogels are tested and different patterns of the actuating hydrogels are compared. The performance of the hydrogel microstructures on response times of microlenses is summarized. |
