Holographic progressive lenses

Abstract

Progressive addition lenses (PALs) are realized as optical freeform surfaces by complex manufacturing and inspection processes. In turn, holographic optical elements (HOEs) enable fast and easy fabrication in other applications. Here we present a design method for the combination of both; HOEs that are designed to fulfill the optical function of PALs. We describe how inherent limitations of HOEs, such as angular and wavelength selectivity as well as grating dispersion can be overcome. We show that holographic PALs can be optimized to have a distribution of spherical power and astigmatism, which is a qualitative replication of the performance of their refractive counterparts. The design rules we identify are shown for PALs but have the potential to improve other applications of HOEs as well.

Hybrid refractive holographic single vision spectacle lenses

“…Since grating dispersion in HOEs is much higher [8,18,19] than in refractive SVSLs of comparable SPH, it is necessary to pre-compensate for a certain amount of dispersion to limit CE. We achieve this by using two HOEs in a tandem configuration as described in [12,13]. A further challenge is diffraction efficiency: On the one hand, the HOE needs to operate with high diffraction efficiency in a single diffraction order over the entire visible spectrum of light.…”

“…The maximum AST error, however, is up to 1 dpt in the holographic SVSL as compared to up to 0.02 dpt in the refractive SVSL. This increase in AST error can be attributed to our HOEs being not rotationally symmetric, which is a result of the deflection angle between the two HOEs used in tandem [12,13]. CE is plotted in a different scaling in Fig.…”

“…The main challenge, then, is to find an optimized design that delivers the required prescription values of SPH and AST while fulfilling all the said requirements. For this purpose, we apply a dedicated optimization toolchain based on our previous work that achieves a broadband median HOE diffraction efficiency of 0.88 [12,13].…”