Stretchable bioinspired compound eye structures with curved microlens arrays via a dry-phase rubbing process

Abstract

A stretchable bioinspired compound (BIC) eye structure with a combination of dispensing and dry-phase rubbing processes is proposed as a printed optical component. A hemispherical macrolens is formed by the dispensing method, followed by a dry-phase rubbing process for arranging microparticles in monolayers onto the curved surface of the macrolens. This hierarchical structure is replicated in soft materials, which have intrinsic stretchability. A microlens array is formed on the surface of the macrolens and acts as a rigid island, thereby maintaining lens shape and resolution even though mechanical strain is applied to the overall hierarchical structures and the shape of the macrolens is changed. (c) 2025 Optica Publishing Group. All rights, including for text and data mining (TDM), Artificial Intelligence (AI) training, and similar technologies, are reserved.