A collimated globar source with a broadband output useful to a wavelength as long as 9 micrometers is shown and some characteristics of it are listed and illustrated. An infrared transmitting polymer Fresnel lens is used to focus this source to a small spot. A significant advantage of our polymer material’s virtually identical refractive index across both the visible and infrared regimes for our polymer material is confirmed by observing the stability of back focal length across different wavebands.
Maintaining the fidelity during mass production of nanostructures over large surface areas poses several challenges. Thin polymer optic components are susceptible to warping, birefringence, and errors in nanostructure form and periodicity. These issues can vary across the entirety of the surface, much more than in smaller injection molded parts. We discuss some of these challenges, their effects on the performance of the nanostructures, and some methods for mitigation.
Several types of polymer viewing screens for imaging thermal infrared scenes have been studied, both experimentally and theoretically. The best candidates will be used to evaluate the quality of polymer thermal imaging optics in a subsequent paper.
Virtual reality and augmented reality devices require increasingly demanding optical components. Head mounted displays for VR systems often use molded Fresnel lenses, which can be affordably mass produced, maintain low weight, and still achieve high optical performance. Here, we describe an optical system designed for a wide field-of-view, consumer VR headset. Custom tooling was fabricated via diamond turning in order to injection mold the acrylic lenses. Each optical channel is composed of two lenses. The lenses have a spherical-convex surface and an aspheric-convex Fresnel on a spherical-concave surface; the radii of the spherical surfaces differ between the two lenses. Each lens pair relays the image from a compatible smartphone to the eye. To assess the quality of the lenses, the surface finish and surface profiles were measured using a white light interferometer and a contact profilometer, respectively. The lenses were assembled into a custom headset, and their performance was demonstrated via commercial VR software.
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