Visual defects when extending two-dimensional invisible lenses with circular symmetry into the third-dimension

Abstract

A common practice in the design of three-dimensional objects with transformation optics is to first design a two-dimensional object and then to simply extend the refractive index profile along the z-axis. For lenses that are transformations of free space, this technique works perfectly, but for many lenses that seem like they would work, this technique causes optical distortions. In this paper, we analyze two such cases, the invisible sphere and Eaton lens, and show photorealistically how serious such optical distortions might appear in practice.