Quantitative evaluation of performance of three-dimensional printed lenses

John Gawedzinski; Michal E. Pawlowski; Tomasz S. Tkaczyk

doi:10.1117/1.OE.56.8.084110

30 August 2017 Quantitative evaluation of performance of three-dimensional printed lenses

John Gawedzinski, Michal E. Pawlowski, Tomasz S. Tkaczyk

Author Affiliations +

Optical Engineering, Vol. 56, Issue 8, 084110 (August 2017). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.OE.56.8.084110

Abstract

We present an analysis of the shape, surface quality, and imaging capabilities of custom three-dimensional (3-D) printed lenses. 3-D printing technology enables lens prototypes to be fabricated without restrictions on surface geometry. Thus, spherical, aspherical, and rotationally nonsymmetric lenses can be manufactured in an integrated production process. This technique serves as a noteworthy alternative to multistage, labor-intensive, abrasive processes, such as grinding, polishing, and diamond turning. Here, we evaluate the quality of lenses fabricated by Luxexcel using patented Printoptical^© technology that is based on an inkjet printing technique by comparing them to lenses made with traditional glass processing technologies (grinding, polishing, etc.). The surface geometry and roughness of the lenses were evaluated using white-light and Fizeau interferometers. We have compared peak-to-valley wavefront deviation, root mean square (RMS) wavefront error, radii of curvature, and the arithmetic roughness average (Ra) profile of plastic and glass lenses. In addition, the imaging performance of selected pairs of lenses was tested using 1951 USAF resolution target. The results indicate performance of 3-D printed optics that could be manufactured with surface roughness comparable to that of injection molded lenses (<inline-formula< <mml:math display="inline" xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"< <mml:mrow< <mml:mi<Ra</mml:mi< <mml:mo<<</mml:mo< <mml:mn<20</mml:mn< <mml:mtext< </mml:mtext< <mml:mi<nm</mml:mi< </mml:mrow< </mml:math< </inline-formula<). The RMS wavefront error of 3-D printed prototypes was at a minimum 18.8 times larger than equivalent glass prototypes for a lens with a 12.7 mm clear aperture, but, when measured within 63% of its clear aperture, the 3-D printed components’ RMS wavefront error was comparable to glass lenses.

Citation Download Citation

John Gawedzinski, Michal E. Pawlowski, and Tomasz S. Tkaczyk "Quantitative evaluation of performance of three-dimensional printed lenses," Optical Engineering 56(8), 084110 (30 August 2017). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.OE.56.8.084110

Received: 5 April 2017; Accepted: 27 July 2017; Published: 30 August 2017

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