05/2026 Doth K., Wende, M., Aslani, V., Herkommer, A., & Toulouse, A. (2026). Miniaturized 3D-printed Rheinberg illumination for single-shot dark- and bright-field microscopic imaging, J. Opt. Microsyst. 6(2), 021008.
04/2026 Ghosh, O., Wende, M., Trapp, J., Toulouse, A., & Herkommer, A. (2026). Micro-optical system for single-mode to few-mode fiber coupling: maximizing spatial overlap. Journal of Optical Microsystems, 6(2), 021004-021004.
03/2026 Trapp, J., Geißler, S., Toulouse, A., & Herkommer, A. (2026). Metrology of steep slope surfaces in two-photon-lithographymanufactured micro-structures. Optical Engineering, 65(2), 024102- 024102.
12/2025 Aslani, V., Baghapour, S., Warren-Smith, S. C., Zhang, W., Ebadati, E., Plush, S. E., Herkommer, A. M., Toulouse, A., & Afshar V, S. (2025). 3D Microprinting of Structures with Lanthanide-Based Fluorophores on Optical Fibers for Multiplexed Sensing. Advanced Optical Materials, e02989.
11/2025 Rüdinger, A., Atmaca, Ö., Bahlinger, V., Weisser, E., Matovina, S., Rohner, A., Strauß, A., Aslani, V., Thiele, S., Toulouse, A., Haist, T., Staebler, A., Brucker, S., Fend, F., Herkommer, A., & Reichelt, S. (2025). Bimodal tissue differentiation using hyperspectral imaging and elastographic Fourier transform profilometry. Light: Advanced Manufacturing, 6, 1-14.
05/2025 Jimenez, C., Toulouse, A., & Herkommer, A. (2025). Design of freeform beam shaping micro-optics for single photon sources. Optics Express, 33(11), 22805-22815.
04/2025 Rothermel, F., Toulouse, A., Thiele, S., Jung, C., Drozella, J., Steinhoff, R., Giessen, H., & Herkommer, A. M. (2025). Magnetically actuatable 3D-printed endoscopic microsystems. Communications Engineering, 4(1), 69.
04/2025 Trapp, J., Mahmoudi, H., Wende, M., McAlary, L., Ooi, L., Li, J., McLaughlin, R., Herkommer, A., Toulouse, A., & Kabakova, I. (2025). Dual fiber probe with 3D-printed micro-lens for Brillouin microscopy. APL Photonics, 10(4).
04/2025 Chen R., Rothermel, F., Fitridge, R., Bursill, C. Psaltis, P., Giessen, H., Herkommer, A., McLaughlin, R., Toulouse, A., & Li, J. (2025). Low background fluorescence 3D-printed micro-lens for imaging of vulnerable atherosclerotic plaques. APL Photonics, 10(4).
04/2025 Doth, K., Wende, M., Drozella, J., Haist, T., Herkommer, A., & Toulouse, A. (2025). Miniaturized holographic twin trap 3D-printed via two-photon lithography. Journal of Optical Microsystems, 5(2), 024501-024501.
03/2025 Wende, M., Doth, K., Heymann, M., & Toulouse, A. (2025). 3Dprinted immersion micro optics. Light: Advanced Manufacturing, 6, 1-7. Impact statement: Microfluidic sealing of 3D-printed microoptics allows for the first time ultra-compact application of high-NA 3D-printed microoptical systems within liquids such as glues (for robust photonic packaging) or biomedical fluids (for endoscopic application).
03/2025 Wende, M., Rothermel, F., Stilson, E., Kübler, F., Sawyer, T., Herkommer, A. M., & Toulouse, A. (2025). 3D-printed endomicroscope with a fast magnetic actuator for axial image plane scanning. Optics Letters, 50(7), 2243-2246.
09/2024Toulouse, A., Imiolczyk, C., Wende, M., Kühn, T., Hellstern, A., Ruchka, P., Hirzel, K., Herkommer, A., Giessen, H. & Heymann, M. "Towards endoscopic biofabrication on the micro-scale" (2024). Peer-reviewed conference abstract, 58th Annual Conference of the German Society for Biomedical Engineering. Link
04/2024 Wende, M., Drozella, J., Toulouse, A., & Herkommer, A. M. (2024). Fast vector wave optical simulation methods for application on 3Dprinted microoptics. Journal of Optical Microsystems, 4(2), 024501- 024501.
11/2023 Jimenez, C., Hellmann, C., Toulouse, A., Drozella, J., Wyrowski, F., & Herkommer, A. (2023). Numerical analysis of micro-optics based single photon sources via a combined physical optics and rigorous simulations approach. Optics Express, 31(24), 40525-40537.
04/2023 Aslani, V., Toulouse, A., Schmid, M., Giessen, H., Haist, T., and Herkommer, A. (2023). 3D printing of colored micro-optics. Optical Materials Express 13(5), 1372-1384.
12/2022 Schmid, M. D., Toulouse, A., Thiele, S., Mangold, S., Herkommer, A. M., & Giessen, H. (2022). 3D Direct Laser Writing of Highly Absorptive Photoresist for Miniature Optical Apertures. Advanced Functional Materials 2022, 2211159.
10/2022 Wende, M., Drozella, J., Toulouse, A., & Herkommer, A. M. (2022). Fast algorithm for the simulation of 3D-printed microoptics based on the vector wave propagation method. Optics Express, 30(22), 40161-40173.
09/2022Toulouse, A., Thiele, S., Hirzel, K., Schmid, M., Weber, K., Zyrianova, M., Giessen, H., Herkommer, A., & Heymann, M. (2022). High resolution femtosecond direct laser writing with wrapped lens. Optical Materials Express, 12(9), 3801-3809. Impact statement: We show that dip-in 3D printing with a thin foil as protective element is possible without loss in printing resolution. This new method allows research on new photo resist formulations and printing in sterile environments, which is especially needed for bioprinting/ direct printing of cells and tissue. Plenty of current interdisciplinary research objectives (unpublished) are based on this work.
01/2022Toulouse, A., Drozella, J., Motzfeld, P., Fahrbach, N., Aslani, V., Thiele, S., Giessen, H. & Herkommer, A. (2022) Ultra-compact 3Dprinted wide-angle cameras realized by multi-aperture freeform optical design. Optics Express, 3(2), 707-720. Impact statement: Conventionally, wide-angle cameras are rather bulky. Here, we demonstrate the feasibility of a miniature, flat, ultra-wide-angle camera mimicking the arthropod's multi-aperture vision based on 3D printed freeform optics. This paper contains a set of advanced correction and fabrication methods that outline a successful approach to shape corrections for freeform micro-optical elements in general.
01/2021Toulouse, A., Drozella, J., Thiele, S., Giessen, H. & Herkommer, A. (2021). 3D-printed miniature spectrometer for the visible range on a 100 x 100 µm² footprint. Light: Advanced Manufacturing, 2(1), 1-11. Outstanding Paper Award Impact statement: This work marks a miniaturization world record for direct spectrometers. It was featured in multiple news articles and cited >75 times since 2021. It demonstrates for the first time the feasibility of a whole measurement system realized by 3D printing on a hair's diameter. It showcases the potential of micro 3D printing: cramming functionality onto a tiny footprint. The design freedom of 3D printing is exploited through freeform surfaces, sub-micrometer resolution features and microfluidic aperture definition.
08/2020 Ristok, S., Thiele, S., Toulouse, A., Herkommer, A. M., & Giessen, H. (2020). Stitching-free 3D printing of millimeter-sized highly transparent spherical and aspherical optical components. Optical Materials Express, 10(10), 2370-2378.
08/2020 Schmidt, S., Thiele, S., Toulouse, A., Bösel, C., Tiess, T., Herkommer, A., Gross, H. & Giessen, H. (2020). Tailored micro-optical freeform holograms for integrated complex beam shaping. Optica, 7(10), 1279- 1286.
10/2018Toulouse, A., Thiele, S., Giessen, H., & Herkommer, A. M. (2018). Alignment-free integration of apertures and nontransparent hulls into 3D-printed micro-optics. Optics letters, 43(21), 5283-5286. Editor's pick Impact statement: Conventionally, 3D printed microoptics consist of a single transparent material system. This work introduces a new method to integrate a system of microfluidic channels into the optics' mounts to be soaked with non-transparent fluids and thus enable stray light shielding and aperture creation. This novel fabrication method forms the basis for high contrast imaging, defined optical apertures, the spectrometer's slit, and for magnetic actuation on the micro-scale.
04/2013 Hoffmann, J. M., Yin, X., Richter, J., Hartung, A., Maß, T. W., & Taubner, T. (2013). Low-cost infrared resonant structures for surfaceenhanced infrared absorption spectroscopy in the fingerprint region from 3 to 13 μm. The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 117(21), 11311- 11316.
Patents
2022, 2023 Thiele, S., Fahrbach, N., Toulouse, A., & Herkommer, A. "Micro Optics and Fiber Endoscope". German Patent Pending DE102022122923A1 (2022), US Patent Pending US20240237885A1 (2023)
2022 Schmid, M., Toulouse, A., Giessen, H., Herkommer, A., & Thiele, S. "Process for producing micro-optics", German Patent DE102022122987B3 (2022)
2021Toulouse, A., Thiele, S., & Heymann M. "Lens protector as a dispos
2015, 2016, 2018 Krauss, G., & Hartung, A. Linear polarization of a laser beam. European Patent EP3362839B1 (2015), Taiwanese Patent TWI738675B (2016), US Patent US10884255B2 (2018)
Conference presentations & Proceedings
04/2026 Invited Talk: "Towards endoscopic bioprinting: fiber-based two photon lithography" In 3D Printed Optics and Additive Photonic Manufacturing V, SPIE Photonics Europe, Strasbourg, France
06/2025 Presentation: "Two-photon lithography with a single-mode optical fiber" 126th Annual Conference of the German Society for Applied Optics (DGaO), Stuttgart
09/2024 Presentation: "Towards endoscopic biofabrication on the micro-scale" In 58th Annual Conference of the German Society for Biomedical Engineering, Stuttgart, Germany.
06/2024Presentation: "Process for the protection of lenses for new photoresists in high-resolution two-photon lithography", 125th Annual Conference of the German Society for Applied Optics (DGaO), Aachen, Germany
04/2024Invited Talk: "A 3D-printed fiber core multiplexing endoscope" In 3D Printed Optics and Additive Photonic Manufacturing IV, SPIE Photonics Europe, Strasbourg, France
10/2023 Proceeding:Toulouse, A., Thiele, S., Drozella, J., Herkommer, A. (2023). High performance 3D-printed optical micro-systems. In Precision Photonic Systems 2023, Buchs, Switzerland. Presentation: "High performance 3D-printed optical micro-systems"
03/2023 Proceeding: Li, J., Thiele, S., Ruchka, P., Toulouse, A., Kirk, R., Quirk, B., Hoogendoorn, A., Chen, Y., Peter, K., Nicholls, S.J., & McLaughlin, R. (2023). 3D micro-printing of miniaturized fiber-optic probes capable of multi-modal imaging and beam tailoring. In Optical Coherence Tomography and Coherence Domain Optical Methods in Biomedicine XXVII (p. PC1236703). SPIE.
06/2022 Proceeding: Toulouse, A., Drozella, J., Motzfeld, P., Fahrbach, N., Aslani, V., Thiele, S., Giessen, H. & Herkommer, A. (2022). 3D-printed freeform objectives and wide-angle cameras with extremely flat form factors. In DGaO Proceedings 2022. 123rd Annual Conference of the German Society for Applied Optics (DGaO), Pforzheim Presentation: "3D-printed freeform objectives and wide-angle cameras with extremely flat form factors" Session Chair Light Sources and Displays
04/2022 Invited Talk "Complex 3D printed microoptical systems: from a pinhole camera to a spectrometer" in 3D Printed Optics and Additive Photonic Manufacturing III, SPIE Photonics Europe, Strasbourg, France
09/2021 Proceeding:Toulouse, A., Drozella, J., Thiele, S., Giessen, H. & Herkommer, A. (2021). 3D-printed miniature spectrometer for the visible range in a volume of 100 x 100 x 300 μm³. In DGaO Proceedings 2021. 122nd Annual Conference of the German Society for Applied Optics (DGaO), Bremen Keynote Presentation: "3D-printed miniature spectrometer for the visible range in a volume of 100x100x300 µm³"
02/2020 Photonics West 2020, San Francisco, USA Presentation: "3D-printed miniature spectrometer", SPIE OPTO
09/2019 Proceeding: Drozella, J., Toulouse, A., Thiele, S., & Herkommer, A. M. (2019). Fast and comfortable GPU-accelerated wave-optical simulation for imaging properties and design of highly aspheric 3Dprinted freeform microlens systems. In Novel Optical Systems, Methods, and Applications XXII (Vol. 11105, p. 1110506). International Society for Optics and Photonics.
03/2019 Proceeding: Toulouse, A., Thiele, S., Giessen, H., & Herkommer, A. M. (2019). Super-fine inkjet process for alignment-free integration of non-transparent structures into 3D-printed micro-optics. In Advanced Fabrication Technologies for Micro/Nano Optics and Photonics XII (Vol. 10930, p. 109300W). International Society for Optics and Photonics. Photonics West 2019, San Francisco, USA. Best student paper award Presentation: "Super-fine inkjet process for alignment-free integration of non-transparent structures into 3D-printed micro-optics", SPIE OPTO
02/2019 Proceeding:Toulouse, A., Thiele, S., & Herkommer, A. (2019). Virtual reality headset using a gaze-synchronized display system. In Optical Design Challenge 2019 (Vol. 11040, p. 1104009). International Society for Optics and Photonics. Pitch & Poster presentation: "Virtual reality headset using a gazesynchronized display system", SPIE AR/VR/MR 3rd Place Optical Design Challenge
05/2018 119th Annual Conference of the German Society for Applied Optics (DGaO), Aalen Presentation: "Blackening of 3D-printed micro-optics using inkjet processes"
10/2013 Strotkamp, M., Witte, U., Munk, A., Hartung, A., Gausmann, S., Hengesbach, Traub, M., Hoffmann, HD., Hoeffner, J., Jungbluth, B. (2013, October). Broadly tunable, diode pumped alexandrite laser. In Advanced solid state lasers (pp. ATu3A-42). Optical Society of America.
