Special Section Guest Editorial: Gradient Index Optics

Abstract

In the past century, every component of an optical system has become lighter and smaller, except the lenses. Typical lenses have too few degrees of freedom—just the refractive index, and the front and back surface shapes—to meet the demands of the vast array of modern optical systems which collect, project, or otherwise manipulate light. (Even in imaging systems, where computational power has the potential to eliminate the tight coupling between lenses and performance, more capable lenses would increase the trade space that optical designers have available to them).