Free-form lenses are widely used in many fields, mainly including the following aspects:
Smart glasses, virtual reality and mixed reality headsets, high-end glasses, precision optical instruments: Free-form lenses can make the edges of the picture consistent with the scene seen in the middle when taking pictures or videos, avoiding the edge distortion and shrinkage caused by ordinary lenses. For example, the mixed reality headset launched by Apple uses Zeiss optical lenses, which can truly restore the surrounding scene and improve the user experience .
Mobile photography: Free-form lenses are also increasingly used in mobile photography. For example, models such as Huawei Mate40 Pro+, OnePlus 9 Pro and OPPO Find X3 Pro are equipped with free-form lenses to improve photo effects and optical performance .
Optical system design: Free-form lenses can achieve a more compact design, reduce the number of lenses without losing performance, and further reduce the size. This feature is particularly beneficial in small optical lenses, especially when folding the beam path, and can replace existing designs .
Imaging Systems: Freeform optical systems have developed rapidly in the past decade, and their application in imaging systems has made the systems more compact and have excellent performance. The development of this technology is driven by the requirements of extreme ultraviolet lithography and space optical systems for optical surface performance.