Provided is a Fresnel lens which has excellent heat resistance and which can covert light even from a poor-quality semiconductor light sources into uniform, high-quality light and can disperse the resulting light without lowering the central illuminance. The Fresnel lens according to the present invention includes two or more sawtooth prisms in a surface thereof and is made of a cured product of a curable composition containing an epoxy compound (A). Of the sawtooth prisms, a sawtooth prism having a longest inclined side in a cross section has a roughened surface, where the cross section is given by cutting the Fresnel lens in a plane which passes through the center of the Fresnel lens and which is perpendicular to a reference plane of the Fresnel lens.

Methods of fabricating optical lenses and mirrors, systems and composite structures based on diffractive waveplates, and fields of application of said lenses and mirrors that include imaging systems, astronomy, displays, polarizers, optical communication and other areas of laser and photonics technology. Diffractive lenses and mirrors of shorter focal length and larger size, with more closely spaced grating lines, and with more exacting tolerances on the optical characteristics, can be fabricated than could be fabricated by previous methods.

The present disclosure provides a composition comprising a hierarchical opal that exhibits structural color when exposed to incident electromagnetic radiation. The hierarchical opal comprises nanoscale periodic cavities separated by a lattice constant, and includes a surface having grooves. The grooves may form a diffractive optical element on the surface of the hierarchical opal, such as a diffuser, a diffraction grating, a beamsplitter, a beam displacement opic, a Fresnel lens, and a micro lens, among others.

A method for producing an optical article having a Fresnel microstructure and an injection molding system for producing such an article. The method includes heating and cooling a mold and applying a pressure to a thermoplastic material during injection molding of the optical article to facilitate formation of the Fresnel microstructure.

A method is presented herein for manufacturing an immersed Fresnel structure. A first liquid polymer is applied to a first surface of a substrate, the substrate having a second surface that is opposite the first surface. The first liquid polymer is illuminated with light to change at least one property of the first liquid polymer and obtain a modified polymer attached to the first surface of the substrate. A second liquid polymer is applied to at least a portion of a surface of a Fresnel structure. The second surface of the substrate is applied to an outer surface of the second liquid polymer applied to the Fresnel structure to obtain a stacked Fresnel surface. The stacked Fresnel surface is illuminated with light to obtain an immersed Fresnel structure. The immersed Fresnel structure can be used as part of a near-eye display.

An imaging directional backlight apparatus including a waveguide, a light source array, for providing large area directed illumination from localized light sources. The waveguide may include a stepped structure, in which the steps may further include extraction features optically hidden to guided light, propagating in a first forward direction. Returning light propagating in a second backward direction may be refracted, diffracted, or reflected by the features to provide discrete illumination beams exiting from the top surface of the waveguide. Viewing windows are formed through imaging individual light sources and hence defines the relative positions of system elements and ray paths. Lateral non-uniformities of output image are improved by means of adjustment of input aperture shape and reflective aperture shape. Cross talk in autostereoscopic and privacy displays may further be improved by light blocking layers arranged on the input end of the waveguide.

A method for preparing a die for molding of a Fresnel lens includes obtaining a first die block that defines at least one or more portions of a Fresnel lens. The one or more portions defined in the first die block correspond to a plurality of slope facets and a plurality of draft facets. The method also includes adding textures to one or more portions of the first die block that correspond to at least a portion of the plurality of draft facets. A method of making a Fresnel lens includes obtaining the first die block, obtaining a second die block, and coupling the first and the second die blocks. The method also includes providing a molding material into a space defined between the first and the second die blocks, curing the molding material, and removing the Fresnel lens from the first and/or the second die block.

Apparatuses, systems and methods for providing improved ophthalmic lenses, particularly intraocular lenses (IOLs), include features for providing improved extended depth of focus lenses. Exemplary ophthalmic lenses can include an optic including a diffractive profile including at least one set of echelettes, each echelette of the set having a different width in r-squared space than any other echelette of the set and the at least one set of echelettes repeating at least once upon the optic.

Provided is a curable composition capable of giving a lens that has excellent transfer accuracy from a mold and offers heat resistance and optical properties at excellent levels. The curable composition according to the present invention for lens formation contains a cycloaliphatic epoxide (A) represented by Formula (a), a cationic-polymerization initiator (B), and a polysiloxane (C) represented by Formula (c). The curable composition contains the polysiloxane (C) in an amount of 0.01% to 5% by weight based on the total amount of the curable composition. The curable composition according to the present invention for lens formation may further contain a siloxane compound (D) containing two or more epoxy groups per molecule. ##STR00001##

An imaging directional backlight apparatus including a waveguide, a light source array, for providing large area directed illumination from localized light sources. The waveguide may include a stepped structure, in which the steps may further include extraction features optically hidden to guided light, propagating in a first forward direction. Returning light propagating in a second backward direction may be refracted, diffracted, or reflected by the features to provide discrete illumination beams exiting from the top surface of the waveguide. In operation, luminance streaks and bright illumination regions may be formed due to undesirable imaging characteristics from the structure of the Fresnel mirror. Fresnel mirror draft facets and reflective facet microstructures are provided that achieve reduction of visibility of light streaks and bright illumination regions.