Investigation of index change in compression molding of AsSeS chalcogenide glass.

Chalcogenide glasses are emerging as alternative materials for low-cost and high-volume glass molding processes for infrared optics. In precision glass molding, it is well documented that the refractive index variation in the molded elements can lead to substantial amounts of aberrations. The variation has such a significant effect that the optical designs with molded lenses need to be carefully considered and compensated for index variation to achieve targeted optical performance.

Fabrication of an infrared Shack-Hartmann sensor by combining high-speed single-point diamond milling and precision compression molding processes.

A novel fabrication method by combining high-speed single-point diamond milling and precision compression molding processes for fabrication of discontinuous freeform microlens arrays was proposed. Compared with slow tool servo diamond broaching, high-speed single-point diamond milling was selected for its flexibility in the fabrication of true 3D optical surfaces with discontinuous features. The advantage of single-point diamond milling is that the surface features can be constructed sequentially by spacing the axes of a virtual spindle at arbitrary positions based on the combination of rotational and translational motions of both the high-speed spindle and linear slides.

Development of a low cost high precision three-layer 3D artificial compound eye.

Artificial compound eyes are typically designed on planar substrates due to the limits of current imaging devices and available manufacturing processes. In this study, a high precision, low cost, three-layer 3D artificial compound eye consisting of a 3D microlens array, a freeform lens array, and a field lens array was constructed to mimic an apposition compound eye on a curved substrate. The freeform microlens array was manufactured on a curved substrate to alter incident light beams and steer their respective images onto a flat image plane.