Abstract
A simple and efficient process for fabricating customized aspheric lenses is reported, in which a stereolithographic 3D printer combined with the meniscus equilibrium post-curing technique is employed. Two kinds of UV-curable resins, DentaClear and HEMA, were used for printing aspheric lenses in our experiments. The printed DentaClear lens featured low surface profile deviation of ~74 and showed satisfactory optical imaging resolution of 50.80 lp/mm, i.e., 4.92 . The surface roughness of the printed lens with DentaClear was measured to be around 2 nm with AFM. The surface roughness was improved as a result of post-curing, which reduced the ripples on printed lens surfaces. In contrast, the printed HEMA lens exhibited a significant stair-stepping effect with a large surface profile deviation of ~150 . The ripples were somewhat apparent even if the printed HEMA lens surface was smoothed by means of post-curing. No sharp image can be obtained with the HEMA lens in the resolution testing. The composition of HEMA resin may be the reason for the relatively poor surface quality and optical properties.
Highlights
IntroductionAspheric lenses are increasingly applied in various imaging systems to reduce spherical aberrations, distortion, and coma, as well as to correct pupil aberrations
Aspheric Lenses for Imaging.Aspheric lenses are increasingly applied in various imaging systems to reduce spherical aberrations, distortion, and coma, as well as to correct pupil aberrations
We report a simple and effective way to manufacture customized aspheric lenses with a stereolithographic 3D printer
Summary
Aspheric lenses are increasingly applied in various imaging systems to reduce spherical aberrations, distortion, and coma, as well as to correct pupil aberrations. Using aspheric surfaces instead of traditional spherical lenses can significantly reduce the number of optics in imaging systems [1]. Three-dimensional (3D) printing, referring to the technology of fabricating 3D parts layer-by-layer from computer-aided design (CAD) models, is a promising method for fabricating elements that are challenging using traditional technologies, such as vascular stents [4], microfluidic devices [5], micro-lattices [6], and some optical components (for example, micro-lens arrays [7,8], ultracompact multi-lens objectives [9], and aspheric lenses [10,11,12]).
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