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Droplet Lenses

Summary

ANU researchers have developed a flexible lens printing technology that can manufacture affordable high quality, unbreakable, scratch resistant, refractive lenses on demand.

Technology Benefits

Our new disruptive manufacturing solution produces extremely cost effective high quality lenses that can be tailored during fabrication for optimal performance in any application. The lenses have high optical clarity and are flexible, unbreakable, and scratch resistant.

Technology Application

The lenses produced using our processes are applicable where low cost, high quality, disposable optics are required such as disposable medical scopes; point of care optical based tests (medical, agricultural and border control); consumer microscopes and for education markets.

Detailed Technology Description

We have developed processes that produce flexible, unbreakable, scratch-resistant high-powered lenses with high optical clarity (98% transmission). The new lens making processes are based on the carefully timed interplay of gravity, surface tension and capillary forces.
The printing process produces lenses with tailored optical qualities by controlling the deposition sequence, with complete lenses produced within seven seconds. This represents a disruptive lens manufacturing solution that produces extremely cost effective lenses that can be tailored during fabrication for optimal performance in any application. We are working with a company to adapt the processes to high throughput manufacturing. The lenses are capable of providing up to 160 x magnification enabling imaging of structures down to 2 micrometres (Figure 1), collimating or aligning rays of light improving focussing ability (Figure 2), and may be spherical or aspherical

Type of Cooperation

Licensing/ commercial development

Application Date

30/01/2015 00:00:00

Application No.

WO2015113105

Classes

G02C 7/02  •  B29D 11/00  •  G02B 1/00  •  G02B 3/00

Others

and related patent WO2018045409

Country/Region

Australia