The field of polymer optics has expanded at an explosive rate during the period between 2000 and 2020. Reasons for this increased prominence include reduced cost, decreased weight, expanded geometry options, and simplified assembly. Numerous publications focus on the benefits of polymer optics in depth. Since such detail is beyond the scope of this work, the summary in Table 7.1 is provided to give the uninitiated reader a sense for the advantages that polymer solutions offer over traditional glass optics.

The use of polymer optical components and systems is now several decades old. Their penetration into commercial and consumer products, medical instrumentation for surgical and diagnostic testing, and enhanced vision systems and armaments for defense and aerospace platforms has grown significantly in the preceding two decades. Some recent representative examples are shown in Fig. 7.1. The diversity of applications continues to expand; the final part of this section discusses several of the emerging techniques and applications that form the frontier of polymer optics.