A method for duplex printing a three-dimensional structure by depositing droplets of printing ink at least partially side by side and one above the other, including: depositing droplets of printing ink in a first printing step in order to build up an intermediate first pre-structure, depositing droplets of printing ink in a second printing step in order to build up an intermediate second pre-structure on at least one side of the first pre-structure, rotating the first pre-structure and arranging the first pre-structure on a support structure in a rearrangement step between the first and the second printing step, wherein an extension of the first pre-structure is arranged on a carrier substructure of the support structure and a main body of the first pre-structure is arranged on an deformation-control substructure of the support structure. The teachings further relate to a duplex printed three-dimensional structure as well as a duplex printer.

A method of manufacturing a plurality of optical elements includes providing a first wafer (200) having lower alignment features (192) arranged on a first surface of the substrate, providing a second wafer (201) comprising, on a replication side, a plurality of replication sections, each replication section defining a surface structure of one of the optical elements, the second wafer (201) further comprising upper alignment features (194) protruding, on the replication side, further than an outermost feature of the replication sections, depositing liquid droplets (196) on the first side of the first wafer (200), and bringing the second wafer (201) and the first side of the first wafer (200) together, with liquid droplets (196) between the first wafer (200) and the second wafer (201), the upper alignment features (194) contacting the liquid droplets (196) on the lower alignment features (192) on the first side of the first wafer (200), and thereby causing the second wafer (201) to align with the first wafer (200) by capillary action.

A method of producing an optical element includes forming a base portion that supports a curved surface of the optical element by discharging a transmissive material that allows transmission of light in a first amount, and forming the curved surface by discharging, to the base portion, the transmissive material in a second discharge amount smaller than the first discharge amount.

Described are laminated graded index lenses comprising a graded index lens and a flexible film coupled to the graded index lens. Such lenses allow for improved manufacturability and material properties.

A corrected optical lens includes an inner layer that includes a low stress optical lens and an outer layer that includes one or more corrective layers. The outer layer may be formed on at least a portion of an outer surface of the inner layer by scanning the outer surface of the inner layer, generating a surface characterization file based on the outer surface scan, and 3D printing the one or more corrective layers on the outer surface of the inner layer based on the surface characterization file as input to a 3D printer. The surface characterization file may be corrected based on a particular predetermined contour of the inner layer prior to being input to the 3D printer. The correction may include, for example, reduction of root mean square (RMS) values of deviations of detected peaks and valleys on the surface of the inner layer.

Disclosed herein is a method for manufacturing a high-refractive polarized lens, the method comprises; pretreating both surfaces of the TAC film; preparing a pretreated polarized film by attaching the pretreated TAC film to both sides of a PVA film; forming the prepared pretreated polarized film into a lens shape; placing the formed pretreated polarized film on a mold for manufacturing a lens; injecting a polythiourethane-based resin into a lens manufacturing mold on which the pretreated polarized film is placed; and cooling the polythiourethane-based resin while the mold is fixed.

A deflashing machine (100) including a lens-mold-assembly-rotation mechanism (110) having a coaxially aligned first and second rotary parts (112, 114). The first and second rotary parts (1112, 114) being operable for holding the lens-mold-assembly (102) therebetween, and rotatable about a common axis (113). The machine further includes a deflashing mechanism (120) having a first blade (130) and a second blade (140) disposed at a first radial position and a second radial position from the common axis (113) respectively. The first blade (130) having a trimming edge (132) parallel to the common axis (113) for engaging a circumferential surface of the lens-mold-assembly (102) held between the first rotary part (112) and the second rotary part (114). The second blade (140) having a trimming edge (142) radially aligned with respect to the common axis (113) for engaging a convex surface (106) or a concave surface (101) of the lens-mold-assembly (102) held between the first rotary part (112) and the second rotary part (114).

A method for printing a three-dimensional optical component (2) with an inkjet printer (1), wherein the three-dimensional component (2) is built up from layers of printing ink through a targeted placement of droplets (6) of printing ink at least partially side by side and one above the other in successive printing steps, wherein at least one printing step is followed by: a first scanning step during which surface properties of the two dimensional surface defined by the last printed layer are determined through a one dimensional measurement along a first direction by a measurement means (7), a rotation step during which the structure built up in the preceding steps is rotated with respect to the measurement means by a defined rotation angle and a second scanning step during which surface properties of the two-dimensional surface are determined through a one-dimensional measurement along a second direction by the measurement means.

A method for printing a three-dimensional optical component (1), wherein the three-dimensional component (1) is built up from layers of printing ink which are printed at least partially one above the other in consecutive layer-printing steps, wherein during at least one layer-printing step a layer is printed in multi-pass mode, wherein the multi-pass layer (4) is divided into multiple sublayers (3) which are printed in consecutive sublayer-printing steps such that during each sublayer-printing step only part of the multi-pass layer (4) is printed and the full multi-pass layer (4) is obtained through the multiple sublayer-printing steps.

A method for printing a three-dimensional optical component comprising a boundary portion and a remaining portion, comprising the following steps: building up the three-dimensional component from layers of printing ink, wherein each layer is obtained through a targeted placement of droplets of printing ink at least partially side by side, wherein the boundary portion of the three-dimensional component is printed during a boundary defining step followed by a filling step during which the remaining portion is printed.