Is this technology being used in other fields such as camera lens creation or telescopes? Did it cross over into prescription lenses from another area? Just curious.
Is this technology being used in other fields such as camera lens creation or telescopes? Did it cross over into prescription lenses from another area? Just curious.
Telescopes just have multiple layers of lenses along with several adjusting lenses to focus.
To my knowledge Digitally surfaced lenses didn't come from another area of optics, I believe the idea came from a CNC (Computerized Numerical Controlled) machines in their ability to be precis in cutting down to .0001 of an inch, and a group of people smarter than I got together and figured a way to make it work of Ophthalmic lenses.
Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.
~ Mark Twain ~
Yes, to some.
digital was originally was developed for Billet Cut Aerospace components. With Airplanes and rockets you need metal with great structural integrity. Casting (pouring metal into a mold) can cause hidden weaknesses to develop as the metal cools, esp where it gets thinner. At 35,000 feet you don't want to discover your wing mount just cracked. So with Aerospace components they forge a large block under very high pressure to ensure good molecular density and distribution. Then you cut away what you don't need leaving a very strong part with very high integrity and strength. Computers did a better job than people, so CNC (computer numeric cutting) lathes and drills were born, actually during WWII.
The contact lens industry adapted computer controlled lathes faster than ophthalmic eyeglass lenses did, because contacts are mostly symmetrical (each radius curve is the same for RGP's, they dont correct for cyl). The first asymmetrical eyeglass digital lenses were made with routers (like a drill that moves, but the lens stays still), but lathes (the lens rotates and a blade goes in and out) are faster and more efficient for most uses now that they have super high speed actuators that can traverse the entire mechanical range in thousands of a second.
Most camera and telescope lenses are symmetrical and very high ABBE glass (70+), so they are mostly ground do to the nature of the special brittle glass they use. And since they are the same for every device and symmetrical along the radius, grinding can be done effectively. The multiple lens approach they use will negate most small aberrations in the glass, should they occur.
Originally Posted by edKENdance
Awesome reply! Thanks!
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