Optical system and method for manufacturing an optical system
There is provided a method for producing an optical system, whereby molds and coatings becomes embedded in the lens forming fluid, allowing the lens forming fluid to solidify.
1 . A method for producing an optical system, the method comprising the steps of, in order
a) providing at least a first mold part to provide a first mold cavity for an intermediate product with a surface,
b) providing a lens forming fluid in the first mold cavity, and allowing the lens forming fluid to solidify, to produce a solidified intermediate product with a surface,
c) coating at least a part of the surface of the solidified intermediate product with a material to produce a functional optical element in the optical system, where the material is different from the lens forming fluid,
d) providing at least a second mold part for the optical system,
e) arranging the solidified intermediate product in relation to the second mold part to provide a second mold cavity such that the coating applied in step c) is exposed to the second mold cavity and
f) providing lens forming fluid in the second mold cavity such that the functional optical element formed in step c) becomes embedded in the lens forming fluid, and allowing the lens forming fluid to solidify.
2 . The method of claim 1 where the layer coated in step c) forms a partially reflective mirror.
3 . The method of claim 1 where the surface is concave or convex or in a Fresnel lens.
4 . The method according to claim 1 where at least one additional optical element is placed in the mold in step a) or step e) to embed the additional optical element in the optical system.
5 . The method of claim 4 where the additional optical element is a pre-fabricated, discrete component selected from the group consisting of: a quarter-wave plate, a linear polarizer, a circular polarizer, a polarizing beam splitter, a circular polarizing reflector, a curved linear polarizing reflector, a display, a varifocal lens element, and an eye-tracking component, wherein the pre-fabricated, discrete component is fully encapsulated and mechanically fixed by the solidified lens forming fluid.
6 . The method of claim 4 where the optical element in step c) is a partially reflective mirror and the optical system comprises the following optical elements arranged in order from a light source to an observer: a first linear polarizer, a first quarter-wave plate, the beam splitting layer created in step c), a second quarter-wave plate, a polarization beam splitter, and a second linear polarizer.
7 . The method of claim 6 where the second quarter-wave plate, the polarization beam splitter, and the second linear polarizer are placed in the first mold cavity in step a) and the first linear polarizer and the first quarter-wave plate are placed in the second mold cavity in step e) or where the first linear polarizer and the first quarter-wave plate are placed in the first mold cavity in step a) and where the second quarter-wave plate, the polarization beam splitter, and the second linear polarizer are placed in the second mold cavity in step e).
8 . The method of claim 4 where the at least one additional optical element is placed at a predefined distance from the surface which is coated in step c).
9 . The method of claim 8 where the additional optical element is placed at a predefined distance from the surface to be coated in step c) using a distance element.
10 . The method of claim 1 where the coating in step c) is carried out using a thin film deposition technology.