3D printing of Fresnel lenses with wavelength selective tinted materials

Abstract Well-established manufacturing processes for Fresnel lenses fabrication are available. However, adapting additive manufacturing is often desirable, as it opens a plethora of design and manufacturing possibilities. The current study aims to demonstrate the feasibility of 3D printing of optical devices such as Fresnel lenses with customized designs and optical properties. The study investigates the 3D modeling of Fresnel lenses with a computer-aided design tool and selecting suitable materials for the 3D printing process. The process parameters of digital light processing 3D printing were tailored to get the desired features with accurate geometric dimensions in the final printed lenses. The suitable ink colors were introduced into the liquid monomer resin to 3D print tinted Fresnel lenses having the potential in selective color filtering, focusing and sensing applications. The focusing ability of the printed lenses was characterized by using customized optical setups with the help of relative power intensity and transmission spectra measurements. Surface wettability was analyzed using contact angle measurement that revealed the hydrophilic nature of lens material. 3D printed Fresnel lenses are promising optical elements, offering custom-built optical designs, tailored tinted materials and they have the potential to be integrated with both active and passive optical sensors for sensing applications.