Asphere design for dummies

Keita Oka; Scott Sparrold

doi:10.1117/12.930989

19 October 2012 Asphere design for dummies

Keita Oka, Scott Sparrold

Proceedings Volume 8487, Novel Optical Systems Design and Optimization XV; 84870B (2012) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.930989
Event: SPIE Optical Engineering + Applications, 2012, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

The use of aspheres has become common in minimizing aberrations, reducing weight and the overall package. With new technology for fabrication and metrology being introduced, aspheres have experienced increasing use in wide applications. Although new techniques allow for tighter tolerance and steeper geometries, there still remains a significant challenge in designing aspheres for manufacturability and testing. While the topic of designing for fabrication and metrology limitations has been highlighted over the years, the design process continues to be complex and may prevent the optical designer from reaching an optimum solution that meets both optical performance and manufacturing capabilities. In achieving such goals, it is important to not only have a fundamental understanding of aspheres and its uses, but also the flow for a design process using such elements. Without adding the correct constraints and varying them at the correct time, the design may take extreme forms and hence eliminate fabrication options. In this paper, we present a method for optimizing aspheres which can be applied to designing simple on-axis single elements all the way to high numerical aperture multi-element systems. It will outline the procedure of the necessary steps, configurations to pay attention to, and potential courses of action in order to design for the appropriate solution. Understanding these issues will enable the optical designer to efficiently produce an asphere meeting optical requirements and fabrication capabilities.

Citation Download Citation

Keita Oka and Scott Sparrold "Asphere design for dummies", Proc. SPIE 8487, Novel Optical Systems Design and Optimization XV, 84870B (19 October 2012); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.930989

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