Lightpath Technologies, Inc.

Michael E Savard

Xiaojie Xu

A method of manufacturing an optical device having a profile of refractive indices along its optical axis. A desired volume of each of a plurality of types of optical material are dispensed into a mold of known plan area in the form of a frit or a melt and the mold is heated to cause the materials to melt and fuse together to define a contiguous body of optical material having a desired profile. As the optical materials melt, the different types of material separate out so that they are arranged with the most dense material closest to the bottom of the mold and the least dense material closest to the top of the mold. To enhance this effect, the optical materials are layered in the mold in decreasing order of density of the materials from the bottom to the top so that the layers of optical material with the greater densities are closer to the bottom of the mold than the layers of materials with lesser densities.

Process for manufacturing grin lenses

A method is provided of manufacturing an optical element having an optical axis, and including a plurality of definable adjacent zones of optical material, each zone having a definable refractive index different from the refractive index of an adjacent zone and an Abbe number, the zones of optical materials being arranged parallel to each other to define a profile of refractive indices which is symmetric about a plane of symmetry along the optical axis of the element and parallel to the zones. The method include (a) arranging a plurality of substantially planar layers of optical material having different refractive indices and Abbe numbers in order of their respective refractive indices; (b) fusing and diffusing together the plurality of layers to form a solid body of optical material having a first face of material having the highest refractive index and a second face of material having the lowest refractive index of the plurality of selected optical materials; (c) removing two portions of the body, each including part of the first and second faces; and (d) joining the two portions together with faces of material of like refractive index abutting. In one embodiment, the optical element is a spectrally invariant lens.

Method of manufacturing a grin lens

An optical element having an optical axis, and comprising a plurality of definable adjacent zones of optical material, each zone having a definable refractive index different from the refractive index of an adjacent zone and an Abbe number, the zones of optical materials being arranged parallel to each other to define a profile of refractive indices which is symmetric about a plane of symmetry along the optical axis of the element and parallel to the zones. In one embodiment the optical element is a spectrally invariant lens.

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Tucson, AZ, United States of America

Michael E Savard