Agar-made biodegradable ball lens

Autor(es)

Rosa, Lidia O. ; Morais, Eduarda F. ; Cordeiro, Cristiano M. B. ; Fujiwara, Eric

• Tipo de documento: Artigo Científico
• Fonte: APPLIED OPTICS; v. 63, n. 30, p. 6-pg., 2024-10-30.

Resumo

This work proposes the fabrication and characterization of ball lenses made of agar, a biodegradable and renewable material. Pouring a boiled solution of food-grade agar, glycerol, and water into cooled vegetable oil under agitation by a magnetic stirrer produces transparent and manipulable spheres. The glycerol concentration and rotation speed define the refractive index and size distribution, respectively, yielding lenses with diameters between 1 and 8 mm and indices ranging from 1.33 to 1.46. Experiments also characterized the output beam profile with 632 nm laser illumination. The results corroborate with the focal length simulated for a Gaussian beam model, suggesting controllable optical properties and anticipating potential applications of the agar ball lens as a biodegradable optical device for biomedical imaging, illumination, and sensing. (c) 2024 Optica Publishing Group. All rights, including for text and data mining (TDM), Artificial Intelligence (AI) training, and similar technologies, are reserved. (AU)

• Processo FAPESP: 23/09181-0 - Desenvolvimento de fibras ópticas biodegradáveis de ágar para sensoriamento
• Beneficiário: Eric Fujiwara
• Modalidade de apoio: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Regular