Tinted lenses that correct for high order aberrations
View Patent ↗Disclosed herein are photopolymerizable compositions and formulations that comprise photochromic dyes, photochromic blue light blocking dyes, permanent dyes, permanent blue blocking dyes, and/or their combinations. In some variations, these formulations are suited for example, for sandwiching between lens blanks to form semi-finished lens assemblies to form a tinted lens useful in sunglasses. The formulations are also suitable for correcting optical aberrations, and may provide a photochromic effect when exposed to sunlight.
1. A method of tinting a sunglass lens that contains a sandwich configuration of two transparent elements having a cured polymer sandwiched in between said elements, said method comprising adding a dye to said curable polymer prior to said polymer being cured, wherein the cured polymer is a layer having a thickness of less than about 1 mm.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the dye is a permanent dye.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the permanent dye provides gray, brown, green, blue, yellow, orange, red, or violet, or a combination of these colors to the cured polymer.
4. A method of making a tinted sunglass lens comprising:
depositing a layer of curable material between two transparent elements, wherein said layer of curable material contains one or more monomers and a dye, wherein the dye is a permanent dye; and
curing the curable material to form the tinted sunglass lens.
5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the transparent elements are ophthalmic lenses.
6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the ophthalmic lenses comprise a base lens and a cap.
7. The method of claim 4 , wherein the curing step produces a polymer layer having a variable index of refraction.
8. The method of claim 4 , wherein the curing step produces a polymer layer having a constant index of refraction.
9. The method of claim 4 , wherein the permanent dye provides gray, brown, green, blue, yellow, orange, red, or violet, or a combination of these colors in the layer of curable material.
10. The method of claim 6 , wherein the cured polymer is a layer between said base lens and cap and said layer is less than about 0.5 mm thick.
11. A method of making a tinted sunglass lens comprising:
forming a layer of curable material between two transparent elements;
adding a dye to the curable material; and
curing the curable material after the dye has been added to the curable material, wherein the dye provides a photochromic effect to tint the sunglass lens when the dye is exposed to UV-light or sunlight, wherein the tint of the sunglass lens is lessened when the dye is not exposed to UV-light or sunlight.
12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the dye is a photochromic dye.
13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the photochromic dye provides gray, brown, green, blue, yellow, orange, red, violet, or a combination of these colors in the layer.
14. The method of claim 11 , wherein the transparent elements are ophthalmic lenses.
15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the ophthalmic lenses comprise a base lens and a cap.
16. The method of claim 11 , wherein the curing step produces a cured polymer having a constant index of refraction.
17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the cured polymer is a layer between said base and cap and said layer is less than about 0.5 mm thick.
18. A sunglass lens made according to method of claim 4 , or 11 .