A nanolayered polymer films approach to designing and fabricatinggradient refractive index (GRIN) lenses with designer refractive indexdistribution profiles and an independently prescribed lens surfacegeometry have been demonstrated to produce a new class of optics. Thisapproach utilized nanolayered polymer materials, constructed withpolymethylmethacrylate and a styrene-co-acrylonitrile copolymer with atailorable refractive index intermediate to bulk materials, to fabricatediscrete GRIN profile materials. A process to fabricate nanolayeredpolymer GRIN optics from these materials through thermoforming andfinishing steps is reviewed. A collection of technology-demonstratingpreviously reported nanolayered GRIN case studies is presented thatinclude: (1) the optical performance of a f/# 2.25 spherical GRINplano-convex singlet with one quarter (2) the weight of a similar BK7lens and a bio-inspired aspheric human eye GRIN lens. Original researchon the fabrication and characterization of a Luneburg inspired GRIN balllens is presented as a developing application of the nanolayered polymertechnology. (C) The Authors. Published by SPIE under a Creative CommonsAttribution 3.0 Unported License. Distribution or reproduction of thiswork in whole or in part requires full attribution of the originalpublication, including its DOI.
CITATION STYLE
Ji, S., Yin, K., Mackey, M., Brister, A., Ponting, M., & Baer, E. (2013). Polymeric nanolayered gradient refractive index lenses: technology review and introduction of spherical gradient refractive index ball lenses. Optical Engineering, 52(11), 112105. https://doi.org/10.1117/1.oe.52.11.112105
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