Yoav Shechtman

Congratulation to Yoav Shechtman, Zuckerman Faculty Scholar at The Technion, on the publication of  Fabrication of Customized Diffractive Optics in under 10 Minutes via Single-Shot Grayscale Projection on a Consumer-Grade DLP System, in the January issue of Photonics. His work presents a fast, low-cost, maskless method to fabricate diffractive optical elements (DOEs) by projecting a grayscale pattern onto UV-curable resin, reducing production time from days to about 10 minutes. The technique works with desktop resin 3D printers and reliably produces complex optical components that closely match simulations. By removing the need for specialized facilities and expertise, it makes advanced optical prototyping accessible to many more researchers, accelerating innovation in imaging, microscopy, and photonics.

Abstract:
Fabrication of diffractive optical elements (DOEs) is typically slow, costly, and requires specialized expertise, motivating the need for a rapid and accessible alternative. Here, a maskless, cost-effective grayscale lithography approach is introduced for the rapid fabrication of DOEs. The method relies on the single-step projection of a grayscale pattern onto a droplet of UV-curable resin, followed by immersion-oil sealing under near-index-matching conditions.