Lenses with optical markings
A lens including a posterior surface, an anterior surface, and at least one identification marking on the lens. The at least one identification marking exhibits a first degree of visibility in an ambient lighting condition and a second degree of visibility greater than the first degree of visibility in a lighting condition different than the ambient lighting condition.
1 . A lens, comprising:
a posterior surface;
an anterior surface; and
at least one identification marking on the lens, wherein the at least one identification marking comprises a micro-structure engraving or a nano-structure engraving, wherein the micro-structure engraving or the nano-structure engraving exhibits a first degree of visibility in an ambient lighting condition and a second degree of visibility greater than the first degree of visibility in a lighting condition different than the ambient lighting condition, wherein the micro-structure engraving or the nano-structure engraving encodes customer information selected from the group consisting of an identification of a surgeon and an identification of a clinic.
2 . The lens of claim 1 , wherein:
the lighting condition comprises incident light having a wavelength, and
the at least one identification marking comprises a phase plate defined in at least one of the posterior surface, the anterior surface, a perimeter of the lens, or a bulk portion of the lens between the anterior and posterior surfaces, the phase plate having a depth substantially equal to or less than the wavelength of the incident light.
3 . The lens of claim 1 , wherein:
the at least one identification marking comprises a flat surface and a tapered indent, and
the lighting condition comprises polarized light angled at Brewster's angle with respect to the flat surface.
4 . The lens of claim 3 , wherein:
the tapered indent comprises a step and a slanted surface,
the slanted surface of the tapered indent is configured to reflect the polarized light, and
the flat surface is configured not to reflect the polarized light.
5 . The lens of claim 1 , wherein the at least one identification marking comprises a plurality of identification markings.
6 . A lens, comprising:
a posterior surface;
an anterior surface; and
at least one identification marking on the lens, wherein the at least one identification marking comprises a first pattern of features and a second pattern of features each having at least one periodicity resolvable in Fourier space, wherein at least two different angles are defined between adjacent features in at least one of the first pattern of features or the second pattern of features,
wherein the first pattern of features and the second pattern of features are distinct, and
wherein the first pattern of features has a first periodicity and the second pattern has a second periodicity different than the first periodicity.
7 . The lens of claim 6 , wherein the at least one periodicity comprises two or more different periodicities.
8 . The lens of claim 6 , wherein each feature of the pattern of features is a micro-structure engraving or a nano-structure engraving.
9 . A lens, comprising:
a posterior surface;
an anterior surface;
a matrix comprising a plurality of cells configured to encode identification information of the lens; and
at least one identification marking in at least one cell of the plurality of cells, the at least one identification marking comprising a micro-structure engraving or nano-structure engraving,
wherein the at least one identification marking comprises a first type of micro-structure engraving or nano-structure engraving in one cell of the plurality of cells and a second type of micro-structure engraving or nano-structure engraving different than the first type of micro-structure engraving or nano-structure engraving in another cell of the plurality of cells, the first type of micro-structure engraving or nano-structure engraving being one of a Brewster angle marking, a retro-reflector marking, a grating marking, or a Fourier marking and the second type of micro-structure engraving or nano-structure engraving being a different one of the Brewster angle marking, the retro-reflector marking, the grating marking, or the Fourier marking, and
wherein at least one cell of the plurality of cells comprises a super-structure, the super-structure comprising a plurality of sub-cells arranged in a sub-matrix.
10 . The lens of claim 9 , wherein the at least one identification marking comprises a phase plate.
11 . The lens of claim 9 , wherein the at least one identification marking comprises a flat surface and a tapered indent.
12 . The lens of claim 9 , wherein the at least one identification marking comprises a retro-reflector.
13 . The lens of claim 9 , wherein the at least one identification marking comprises a pyramidal reflector.
14 . The lens of claim 9 , wherein the at least one identification marking comprises a diffraction grating.
15 . The lens of claim 9 , wherein the at least one identification marking comprises a pattern of features having at least one periodicity resolvable in Fourier space.
16 . The lens of claim 9 , wherein each cell of the plurality of cells in the matrix represents a binary digit of the encoded identification information, wherein each cell without the identification marking represents one of a value of 0 or a value of 1, and wherein each cell comprising at least one identification marking represents the other of the value of 0 and the value of 1.
17 . The lens of claim 9 , wherein at least one cell of the plurality of cells comprising the at least one identification marking represents a non-binary value of the encoded identification information.
18 . The lens of claim 9 , wherein the matrix defines a data matrix code or a matrix barcode.
19 . The lens of claim 9 , wherein the at least one identification marking comprises human readable text or machine readable text.