Aspherical grin lens

1. A method of fabricating an aspherical gradient refractive index (GRIN) lens comprising:

co-extruding a first polymer material having a first refractive index and a second polymer material having a second refractive index different than the first refractive index to form multilayered polymer composite films;

assembling the multilayered polymer composite films into a multilayer composite GRIN sheet; and

shaping the multilayered composite GRIN sheet into an aspherical lens, wherein the GRIN lens has a parabolic refractive index gradient with a vertex in an axis passing through the center of the lens and perpendicular to the optical axis.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the GRIN sheet is thermoformed, molded, and/or machined into an aspherical GRIN lens.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the multilayered polymer composite films includes a plurality of at least two alternating layers (A) and (B) represented by formula (AB) x , where x=2 n , and n is in the range of from 2 to 18;

wherein layer (A) is comprised of component (a) and layer (B) is comprised of component (b); and

wherein the components (a) and (b) have different refractive indexes.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the components (a) and (b) are selected from the group consisting of a polymeric material, a composite polymer and a polymer blend.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the polymeric material is selected from the group consisting of a glassy material, a crystalline material, a liquid crystalline material, and an elastomeric material.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein the polymeric material comprises at least one of polyoxyethylene or tetrafluoroethylene hexafluoropropylene vinylidene (THV).

7. The method of claim 3 , wherein the layers have a thickness of from 5 nm to 1,000 μm.

8. The method of claim 3 , wherein the multilayered composite polymer films are stacked in ordered layers to form a hierarchical multilayered composite GRIN sheet; and wherein adjacent multilayered composite polymer films are chosen to exhibit progressively different refractive indexes.

9. The method of claim 3 , wherein the multilayered composite polymer film comprises at least 10 alternating layers.

10. The method of claim 3 , wherein the multilayered composite GRIN sheet is comprised of from 5 to 100,000 multilayered polymer composite films.

11. The method of claim 3 , wherein components (a) and (b) are chemically the same materials.

12. The method of claim 3 , wherein the layers further comprise an organic or inorganic material designed to affect the refractive index.

13. The method of claim 3 , exhibiting an index gradient in the range of from 0.02 to 1.0.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the multilayered polymer composite film or multilayered composite GRIN sheet is uniaxially or biaxially oriented.

15. A gradient index (GRIN) lens comprising:

a co-extruded, multilayered composite GRIN sheet having an aspherical shape;

wherein the multilayered composite sheet includes a plurality stacked co-extruded multilayered polymer composite films;

wherein each of the multilayered polymer composite films includes a plurality of at least two alternating layers (A) and (B) represented by formula (AB) x , where x=2 n , and n is in the range of from 4 to 18;

wherein layer (A) is comprised of component (a) and layer (B) is comprised of component (b); and

wherein the components (a) and (b) have different refractive indexes wherein the GRIN lens has a parabolic refractive index gradient with a vertex in an axis passing through the center of the lens and perpendicular to the optical axis.

16. The lens of claim 15 , wherein the components (a) and (b) are elastomers and the multilayered composite sheet is mechanically and reversibly deformable.

17. The lens of claim 15 , wherein the refractive index of the multilayered composite GRIN sheet is varied mechanically by pressure, tension, compression, shear or a combination of these stresses.

18. The lens of claim 15 , exhibiting an index gradient in the range of from 0.02 to 1.0.

19. The lens of claim 15 , wherein the sheet defines an oblate ellipse, which has a first half-parabolic GRIN distribution, and a prolate ellipse, which has a second half-parabolic GRIN distribution, through the lens thickness.

20. The lens of claim 19 , wherein the refractive index decreases in a direction towards a periphery of the lens.