Manufacture of dual-side surface-relief diffusers with various cross angles using ultrasonic embossing technique

This paper reports a simple and effective ultrasonic embossing method which enables the rapid fabrication of dual-side surface-relief plastic diffusers with various cross angles. Metallic master molds bearing microstructures are fabricated using a tungsten carbide turning machine. A 1500-Watt ultrasonic vibrator with an output frequency of 20 kHz was used to replicate the microstructure onto 1 mm thick PMMA and PET films in the experiments. During ultrasonic embossing, the ultrasonic energy is converted into heat through intermolecular friction at the master mold/plastic plate interface due to asperities to melt the thermoplastic at the interface and thereby to replicate the microstructure. Under the proper processing conditions, high-performance dual-sided plastic diffusers of various cross-angles can be successfully fabricated. The proposed method shows great potential for fast fabrication of micro-optical components due to its simplicity and versatility. (C) 2008 Optical Society of America