RESUMO
Image transfer in linear and curvilinear arrays of glass spheres was studied experimentally and discussed analytically. Glass spheres of 5 and 1 mmphi were used. The image pattern was successfully transferred through the sphere array but was highly deformed because of aberrations of the spheres' lenses. However, we suppressed the aberrations significantly by filling the spaces between the spheres with dielectric liquid and covering both ends of the tube that contained the sphere arrays with flat plates.
RESUMO
A mixed sphere array and film (MSF) waveguide [a mixed system with a polystyrene microsphere array and a poly(methyl methacrytate) thin film waveguide] was fabricated and characterized at a wavelength of 0.67 microm. The attenuation coefficients of the isolated linear thin-film waveguide and the isolated linear microsphere array were measured to be 0.54 dB/microm and 0.98 dB/sphere, respectively. In the MSF waveguide the attenuation coefficients of the thin-film waveguide and the polystyrene microsphere array were 0.61 dB/microm and 1.17 dB/sphere, respectively. A curvilinear MSF waveguide was also fabricated and characterized. Evanescent wave interaction between the thin-film waveguide and the microsphere array was expected.
