Fabrication and characterization of moth-eye mimicking nanostructured convex lens

• Nanofabrication is reported for nanopillar structuring on both sides of convex lens.
• Moth-eye mimicking convex lens shows reflectance below 1% at 550 nm wavelength.
• Anti-flare & anti-ghost photograph is demonstrated based on antireflective property.
• Superhydrophobicity & self-cleaning effect are made by PFPE coating on nanostructured lens.

In this work, we demonstrate a simple fabrication method for the periodic nanopillar structures on both sides of convex lens and evaluation of their optical characteristics. The periodic nanopillar structures on convex lens are inspired from the moth-eye which can provide antireflective property. The fabrication is composed with the coating of colloidal nanoparticles on a convex lens and the plasma etching of it. Because the optical behavior depends on the surface morphology, the structural dimensions of nanopillars should be modulated by the various experimental conditions such as the processing times of two steps, which reduce the size of self-assembled particles and perform the pattern transfer into the lens material. Nanopillar structured convex lens exhibits the antireflective effect showing the increase in transmittance and the decrease in reflectance without any deformation of lens property such as chromatic and spherical aberration. Furthermore, the antireflective property of nanostructured convex lens can make the photography high quality without flare and ghost phenomena, even though the pictures are taken under the strong external light environment such as sunshine, sunset, and concentrated external light. The wettability of convex lens surface is also controlled to express the self-cleaning effect which is inspired from a lotus leaf by the low surface tension chemical coating on a nanostructured surface. This moth-eye mimicking nanostructured convex lens will be easily applicable to optical industry with easy and cost-effective fabrication for the advanced optical and wetting property.

Moth-eye mimicking nanostructured convex lens is demonstrated with anti-flare and anti-ghost photograph based on antireflective property.Figure optionsDownload as PowerPoint slide