Optical design of freeform lenses for illuminating hard-to-reach areas

Lin Yang; Rengmao Wu; Jinlei Zhang; Yijie Dai

doi:10.1117/12.2601885

9 October 2021 Optical design of freeform lenses for illuminating hard-to-reach areas

Lin Yang, Rengmao Wu, Jinlei Zhang, Yijie Dai

Proceedings Volume 11895, Optical Design and Testing XI; 1189507 (2021) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2601885
Event: SPIE/COS Photonics Asia, 2021, Nantong, JS, China

Abstract

Designing a general method of freeform optics for illuminating hard-to-reach areas is a challenging but rewarding issue. Most of the current designs of freeform illumination optics are valid in the applications in which the region of interest is easily accessible. However, there are some applications in which the region of interest is inaccessible due to the obstacles that cannot be removed and high-quality illumination is still needed (this is usually the case in endoscopic lighting). In this paper, we present a general formulation of designing freeform lenses for illuminating hard-to-reach areas. In this method, the freeform lens consists of two elaborately designed surfaces, by which both the irradiance distribution and wave-front of the light beam are manipulated in a desired manner. The light beam after refraction by the freeform lens is further guided through a light-guiding system to produce a prescribed illumination on a target plane which is inaccessible. Here, the light-guiding system can be a light-guiding element [e.g., a gradient refractive index (GRIN) lens] or an optical system that consists of several optical components. The properties of the light-guiding system are taken into account in the tailoring of the freeform lens profiles to guarantee the prescribed illumination on the target plane. The result shows that the design of freeform optics for illuminating hard-to-reach areas in the presence of a light-guiding system can still be formulated into an Monge–Ampère equation (MA) with a nonlinear boundary condition. Two examples are given to demonstrate the elegance of this method in designing freeform optics for illuminating hard-to-reach areas.

Citation Download Citation

Lin Yang, Rengmao Wu, Jinlei Zhang, and Yijie Dai "Optical design of freeform lenses for illuminating hard-to-reach areas", Proc. SPIE 11895, Optical Design and Testing XI, 1189507 (9 October 2021); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2601885

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KEYWORDS

Freeform optics

Ray tracing

GRIN lenses

Optical design

Imaging systems

Laparoscopy

Lens design

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