Prototyping of Beam Shaping Diffraction Gratings by

Diffractive gratings are often associated with the use of beam shaping device utilizing a monochromatic source. They could provide high flexibility in design and offer a precise control according to applications. The design of diffraction grating often makes several iterations through design and prototyping before completion. In this paper, we demonstrate a computer-aided de- sign method and a mechanical method of prototyping diffractive grating optics for beam shaping, which aim at improve produc- tivity through greater design flexibility, rapid fabrication and cost reduction. A description of the optical design is presented along with a discussion on the integrated patterning system. Note to Practitioners—This paper was motivated by the problem indesignprototypingofmicrooptics.Ingeneral,thedesignprocess is time consuming and prototyping of micro optics always requires atoolingforinjectionmoldingorhotembossing.Thecostforfabri- cating the tooling is relatively high compared to direct machining. Unfortunately, component with micro optics is hard to manufac- ture by direct machining owing to the problems of precision and accuracy. This paper suggested a new approach in designing and prototypingofthemicrooptics.Withtheaidofthecomputer-aided design system, the design process was being expedited. The de- signer could verify the optical system without any physical model. Once the design was being confirmed, a prototype could be fabri- cated by using the Atomic Force Microscope (AFM). From the ex- perimental results, the AFM was proven to be a rapid fabrication method with high precision and accuracy, which eliminated most of the problems confronted by the conventional techniques.