Fabrication process for small aspherical lenses

We present a novel, to the best of our knowledge, fabrication process for highly aspherical lenses based on surface deformation due to thermal expansion of a soft polymer, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), using laser-structuring, molding, and precise shape optimization. Our fabrication process can be used for almost any lens shape with a large degree of freedom-both individual lenses and dense arrays. We present the design, fabrication, and characterization with examples of four different lenses with 1 mm apertures and surface deviations below 100 nm. (C) 2020 Optical Society of America