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The use of individual multimode optical fibers in endoscopy applications has the potential to provide highly miniaturized and noninvasive probes for microscopy and optical micromanipulation. A few different strategies have been proposed…
3D printing technologies are currently enabling the fabrication of objects with complex architectures and tailored properties. In such framework, the production of 3D optical structures, which are typically based on optical transparent…
Photopolymerization processes are exploited in light exposure-based 3D printing technologies, where either a focused laser beam or a patterned light sheet allows layers of a UV curable, liquid pre-polymer to be solidified. Here we focus on…
Additive manufacturing, also known as 3D printing, is an advanced manufacturing technique that allows the fabrication of arbitrary macroscopic and microscopic objects. All 3D printing systems require large optical elements or nozzles in…
Freeform optical components offer significant compactization of multi-lens systems, as well as advanced manipulation of light that is not possible with traditional systems. However, their fabrication relies on machining processes that are…
The growth dynamics of rigid biopolymers, consisting of $N$ parallel protofilaments, is investigated theoretically using simple approximate models. In our approach, the structure of a polymer's growing end and lateral interactions between…
Two-photon photopolymerization of UV curing resins is an attractive method for the fabrication of microscopic transparent objects with size in the tens of micrometers range. We have been using this method to produce three-dimensional…
High-aspect-ratio polymer materials are widely utilized in applications ranging from everyday materials such as clothing to specialized equipment in industrial and medical fields. Traditional fabrication methods, such as extrusion and…
Polymer micro- and nano-fibers, made of organic light-emitting materials with optical gain, show interesting lasing properties. Fibers with diameters from few tens of nm to few microns can be fabricated by electrospinning, a method based on…
Frontal photopolymerization (FPP) provides a versatile method for the rapid fabrication of solid polymer network materials by exposing photosensitive molecules to light. Dimensional control of structures created by this process is crucial…
Polymer fibers are currently exploited in tremendously important technologies. Their innovative properties are mainly determined by the behavior of the polymer macromolecules under the elongation induced by external mechanical or…
Photopolymerization enables the production of micro-optical elements, such as diffractive optical elements or GRIN optics. This process utilizes targeted spatial modulation of the refractive index, which is achieved through additive…
Microstructured optical fibers (MOFs) are one of the most exciting recent developments in fiber optics. A MOF usually consists of a hexagonal arrangement of air holes running down the length of a silica fiber surrounding a central core of…
Nowadays is very common to find headlines in the media where it is stated that 3D printing is a technology called to change our lives in the near future. For many authors, we are living in times of a third industrial revolution. Howerver,…
Optical imaging technologies are central to discovery in the life and physical sciences, yet their impact depends on how readily they can be built, adapted, and sustained across laboratories. Digital fabrication, including desktop 3D…
Polymer based organic photovoltaic (OPV) technology offers a relatively inexpensive option for solar energy conversion provided its efficiency increases beyond the current level (6-7%) along with significant improvements in operational…
In modern particle physics experiments wavelength-shifting and scintillating fibres based on plastic polymers are used for tracking and calorimetry. In this review the role of photon trapping efficiencies, transmission functions and signal…
Polymers consisting of more than one type of monomer, known as copolymers, are vital to both living and synthetic systems. Copolymerisation has been studied theoretically in a number of contexts, often by considering a Markov process in…
Hybrid photonic integration exploits complementary strengths of different material platforms, thereby offering superior performance and design flexibility in comparison to monolithic approaches. This applies in particular to multi-chip…
The accelerating increase in information traffic demands the expansion of optical access network systems that require cost reduction of optical and photonic components. Low cost, ease of fabrication, and integration capabilities of low…