{"id":316222,"date":"2018-05-02T12:30:56","date_gmt":"2018-05-02T16:30:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/?p=316222"},"modified":"2018-09-21T07:27:33","modified_gmt":"2018-09-21T11:27:33","slug":"freeform-optics-new-method-lenses-316222","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/freeform-optics-new-method-lenses-316222\/","title":{"rendered":"New method eliminates guesswork when lenses go freeform"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lenses and mirrors with freeform surfaces enable designers to focus light within optical devices that are lighter, more compact, and more effective than ever before.<\/p>\n

But until now, determining which freeform surfaces will work best \u2013 if at all \u2013 in a given configuration of mirrors and lenses has been a time-consuming and often expensive process of trial and error.<\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t have to be that way anymore.<\/p>\n

In a paper in Nature Communications<\/em>,<\/a> lead author Aaron Bauer, a senior research engineer at the URochester\u2019s Center for Freeform Optics (CeFO), combines theory and practice in a step-by-step method that eliminates much of the guesswork.<\/p>\n

\u201cAaron has developed a process to design with freeform surfaces that can be applied very generally,\u201d says coauthor Jannick Rolland<\/a>, CeFO director and Brian F. Thompson Professor of Optical Engineering. \u201cIt\u2019s really beautiful and even at times feels like magic\u201d<\/p>\n

She believes the findings will help accelerate the adoption of freeform optics in industry. \u201cPeople will no longer say \u2018Oh, it\u2019s too expensive to build with freeform optics,\u2019\u201d she says. \u201cBecause now you can make something that may cost a tenth of what it would have cost otherwise.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/h3>\n
\"Jannick
Jannick Rolland, director of the Center for Freeform Optics, says a new design method will accelerate the adoptionof freeform optics \u201cbecause now you can make something that may cost a tenth of what it would have cost otherwise.\u201d (Ä¢¹½´«Ã½ photo \/ J. Adam Fenster)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Laying the groundwork<\/strong><\/h3>\n

For as long as mirrors and lenses have been packaged together in telescopes, spectrometers, and a host of other optical devices, performance has been defined by how well those elements are able to keep a beam of light focused with minimal \u201caberration.\u201d<\/p>\n

Traditionally, optical designers have relied on rotationally symmetric optical surfaces, because their design and manufacture was relatively straightforward.<\/p>\n

Within the last 20 years, advances in high-speed micro milling, computer-controlled lens polishing, and ion beam etching, among other technologies, have made asymmetric freeform surfaces more feasible.<\/p>\n

In a paper\u00a0in 2014,<\/a> Kyle Fuerschbach, a former member of the Rolland Lab, laid the theoretical framework for freeform aberrations theory.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we still didn\u2019t have a systematic process to design with that theory,\u201d Rolland says.<\/p>\n

<\/h3>\n

Putting two and two together<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Bauer, in the meantime, was working alongside Fuerschbach, designing a head-worn display using freeform surfaces.<\/p>\n

\u201cI noticed that there were very common patterns of aberrations that were always popping up, and limiting my system from going any further,\u201d Bauer says. Moreover, \u201cthose patterns of aberration matched the ones that Kyle predicted would be corrected by freeform surfaces. So, I put two and two together.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"illustration
Using a new step-by-step method developed by Aaron Bauer, a senior research engineer at the URochester\u2019s Center for Freeform Optics (CeFO), these eight different designs for a three-mirror reflective imager were ranked by their potential to be corrected using freeform optics, with Tier 1 having the greatest potential. (Ä¢¹½´«Ã½ illustration \/ courtesy Jannick Rolland)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The method he came up with starts with the initial \u201cfolding geometry\u201d (alignment of mirrors and lenses) contemplated for a design, and then, based on an analysis of the various aberrations produced by that alignment, predicts:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • whether freeform surfaces could minimize those aberrations and, if so,<\/li>\n
  • which freeform surfaces should be used for maximum effect.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    \u201cFreeform surfaces are not a universal solution for correcting every aberration,\u201d Bauer notes. \u201cSo, what our method does is to allow designers \u00a0to analyze all of these geometries ahead of time, in order to predict whether or not there would be a good solution.\u201d<\/p>\n

    That\u2019s far better than the \u201cbrute force\u201d approach where \u201cpeople heuristically try various freeform surfaces into a design,\u201d Rolland says. \u201cEven if it eventually works, you could end up with a system where the departure of the surfaces are much larger than they would be otherwise, because all those freeform surfaces may be fighting each other. And if it does not work, there is nowhere go as a designer.\u201d<\/p>\n

    By using Bauer\u2019s method instead, she says, \u201cyou will be able to design something that is a lot simpler, and that will be easier to manufacture and test. Furthermore, the method will quickly and unequivocally provide insight into why a given geometry might be intrinsically limited, which is essential for designers.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Eric Schiesser, a PhD student in the Rolland lab, also contributed to the paper.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Lenses and mirrors with freeform rather than symmetric can lead to optical devices that are more effective than ever before. A new design method would eliminate the expensive trail-and-error needed to work with freeform optics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":286,"featured_media":316232,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[116],"tags":[19292,29502,18632,18652,19282,18572],"class_list":["post-316222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sci-tech","tag-center-for-freeform-optics","tag-featured-post-side","tag-hajim-school-of-engineering-and-applied-sciences","tag-institute-of-optics","tag-jannick-rolland","tag-research-finding"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nNew method eliminates guesswork when lenses go freeform<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Lenses and mirrors with freeform rather than symmetric can lead to optical devices that are more effective than ever before. 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