Spectacle Lens with Offset Volume Element Grids for Chromatic Aberration Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional spectacle lenses suffer from significant transverse chromatic aberrations, particularly with high refractive index materials, leading to bothersome color fringes and reduced contrast for the wearer, as they cannot effectively cancel chromatic aberrations across the entire lens surface without increasing thickness and weight.
Innovation Solution
A spectacle lens design featuring first and second volume element groups arranged on grid points of intersecting partial grids, made from materials with differing Abbe numbers, allowing them to interact achromatically and significantly attenuate transverse chromatic aberration by canceling out color dispersion without altering the lens's thickness or weight.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Length of stationary object
If high refractive index materials are used to reduce lens thickness, then lens thickness is reduced, but transverse chromatic aberration increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The lens is divided into a matrix of discrete volume elements (voxels) with different refractive indices, arranged in a segmented pattern. This segmentation allows different regions of the lens to have different optical properties, enabling chromatic aberration correction while maintaining thin overall lens structure. The segmented approach replaces conventional homogeneous high-index materials with a patterned arrangement of elements having different Abbe numbers.
Solution Approach 2:
Different volume elements within the lens matrix are assigned different local optical qualities (refractive indices and Abbe numbers) based on their position and function. Elements experiencing different wavelengths of light are given tailored optical properties to compensate for chromatic dispersion locally, while maintaining the overall thin lens form factor.
2Ease of manufacture
If conventional homogeneous lens materials are used, then manufacturing is simple, but transverse chromatic aberration cannot be corrected across the entire lens surface
Solution Approach 1:
The refractive index parameter is varied spatially across the lens volume by selecting different materials for each volume element. This parameter change allows optimization of chromatic aberration correction at different locations on the lens surface while maintaining manufacturability through systematic material selection from available optical materials with different Abbe numbers.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If achromatic correction is implemented across the entire lens surface, then chromatic aberration is reduced, but lens thickness and weight increase
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of using a single thick achromatic lens design, the correction is achieved through a segmented matrix of thin volume elements. This segmentation allows the lens to maintain overall thinness and lightness while providing distributed achromatic correction across the entire optical aperture through the coordinated arrangement of elements with different dispersive properties.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The design effectively reduces transverse chromatic aberration by over 3 times, maintaining the lens's thin and lightweight structure while minimizing chromatic errors, thereby enhancing visual clarity and comfort for the wearer.
Implementation Method 1
The first and second volume elements are arranged in such a way that, along a light path from an object to be observed by a spectacle wearer through the spectacle lens into the eye of the spectacle wearer, they interact in achromatic fashion
Data Source
AI summary
A spectacle lens includes a first volume element group containing a plurality of first volume elements. The plurality of first volume elements is made from a material with a first Abbe number in the form of grid points of a geometric grid. Further, the spectacle lens includes a second volume group containing a plurality of second volume elements, which form a second partial grid in the form of grid points of a geometric grid, the second volume elements being made of a second material having a second Abbe number, wherein the first Abbe number and the second Abbe number differ from each other. The first partial grid and the second partial grid are arranged offset from each other. The disclosure also relates to a corresponding computer-implemented method for designing a spectacle lens of the type and to a method for producing the type of spectacle lens.