A look into the fascinating world of optical lenses
Posted by juliabennet on July 21st, 2013
From the tiny flashlights we use during power failures to the fascinating telescopes and microscopes, an optical assembly made from different optical lenses serves our purposes. Even so, in a world where lenses play such major roles without us even getting to see them or think about them, what do we really know about them?
At first, it was the telescope, an instrument helping humankind put an end to the old dispute between the heliocentric and geocentric conceptions. After that, it was the microscope, acting in the opposite direction, which made it possible for revolutionary achievements in biology and medicine. Another significant invention was the camera, letting people see things as they really were, not as the artists would have described them.
The list of technological breakthroughs that have changed the course of our development and that are closely tied to this field of optics is almost endless. The world as we know today would not have been possible without the achievements in this field. Long story short, having some basic knowledge on what lenses really are, how they work and how they can be combined in different assemblies is important.
The simplest definition of a lens is a transparent object made from plastic or glass, framed by two curved surfaces, resorting to the phenomenon of refraction in order to create the image of a particular object. Depending on the way that the two facets are curved, we get to obtain different types of optical lenses: biconvex, plano-convex, positive meniscus, negative meniscus, plano-concave or biconcave. Bear in mind that these are types of simple lenses, yet options are even more complex.
When combining different types from these lenses with mirrors, you get to obtain an optical assembly. Most professional manufacturers of such assemblies should provide you with custom built, fast prototypes, aspheric lenses, doublets or triplets lenses and many more. All these should be properly centered, eliminating the potential lateral and longitudinal aberrations and respecting the standard radiometric properties.
Discussing with a specialist in the field may reveal to you the difference of using simple and compound lenses or assemblies. As you will discover, simple lenses can experience different faults, referred to as optical aberrations in technical terms. These faults can be easily resolved by combining simple lenses in certain ways, complementary aberrations being included. In consequence, the collection consisting from simple lenses made from different materials, having different shapes and, also essential, different refractive indices, results into a compound lens.
The way that lenses are disposed determine outstanding visual effects of magnification or shrinking. In order to obtain the most accurate effects and images, you should get in touch with a specialist in manufacturing optical elements, assemblies and anything else related. We are talking about a fascinating and extremely complex world, where knowing the laws of physics will take you far, far away!
No matter what type of optical lenses or optical assembly you are after, you have come to the right place! Just follow the links and you will see for yourself.
