Laser lithographic fabrication and characterization of a spherical artificial compound eye

A spherical artificial compound eye which is comprised of an imaging microlens array and a pinhole array in the focal plane serving as receptor matrix is fabricated. The arrays are patterned on separate spherical bulk lenses by means of a special modified laser lithography system which is capable of generating structures with low shape deviation on curved surfaces. Design considerations of the imaging system are presented as well as the characterization of the comprising elements on curved surfaces, with special attention to the homogeneity over the array. The assembled system is the first spherical compound eye able to capture images. It is evaluated by analyzing resolution and cross-talk between the single channels. (c) 2007 Optical Society of America.