3D printed optics is a new technology which could have application in various domains such as lighting, contact lenses, endoscopes lenses, opthtalmic lenses or microscope lenses. The process could consist in adding thin layers on top of each other and then in coating the surface with the same photo-curable resin to form a a smooth the surface. Alternatively, the process could consist in building lenses droplet by droplet : the droplets merge before they are cured to obtain a smooth surface. The two main advantages of 3D printing is that you don't need a post-process to make the surface smooth and that you can customize each of your lenses. Nethertheless you may encounters some limitations in terms of surface accuracies and possible surfaces shapes. 3D printing is still an active R&D field of development in which major actors are start-ups and research university.
Some actors of optics 3D printing :
www.luxexcel.com
www.northwestern.edu
www.nanoscribe.de/en/
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PRINT YOUR OPTICS
11 August 2020
3D printed optics is a new technology which could have application in various domains such as lighting, contact lenses, endoscopes lenses, opthtalmic lenses or microscope lenses.