Imaging quality 3D-printed inch scale lenses with 10[angstrom] surface quality for swift small or medium volume production (Conference Presentation)

The demand for disposable optics, especially in biomedical fields involving point of care testing systems has led to navigation for new low-cost and high quality optics fabrication processes. We demonstrate that 3D-printing of optics allows on-demand fabrication of polymer lenses at a low price, when no expensive initial tooling expenses are required. However, achieving high surface quality imaging optics has been challenging primarily when the lens diameter is greater than fivefold of a millimeter. In this work, we demonstrate an imaging quality 3D-printed polymer lens with high surface quality of RMS = 0.92 ± 0.33 nm (δ, N=25) and surface profile deviation of ± 500 nm within 0.5 inch aperture diameter. The 3D-printing method is based on Luxexcel’s Printoptical® Technology, using modified ink-jet printheads, by depositing micro-droplets of Opticlear, which is a UV-curable polymer with an inhomogeneity index of 1.1-1.3×10-5 for 0.5 mm plate. We demonstrate a spatial resolution limit below 5 μm using a USAF1951-1x imaging resolution target for the 3D-printed singlet lens that is comparable to an off-the shelf commercial LA1509 N-BK7 plano-convex lens with the same specification parameters. Another application area of the inch-scale printed lens is in low-cost DSLR cameras. Experimental photos taken with a 3D-printed singlet lens and a commercial glass lens are nearly identical. As a result, manufacturing of 3D-printed singlet lenses with repeatability of ±200 nm for small or medium volume production at once becomes feasible by placing the printheads in parallel. We expect further developments towards achromatic optics by development of new 3D-printable polymers.