Fabricating a lens assembly
AssigneeMeta Platforms Technologies, LLC
InventorsKurt Allen Jenkins, Chad Lichtenhan, Michael Patrick Schaub, Byron Taylor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A lens assembly includes a tube in which optical elements such as lenses or micro-lenses are individually fabricated by dispensing a volume of curable optical polymer into the tube, forming the desired shape for the optical element using one or more plungers having heads corresponding to a desired lensing curvature, applying radiant energy to the tube with the plungers in place to cure the optical polymer, and repeating as needed until the desired number of optical elements are fabricated within the lens assembly which may then be integrated as a single piece into a mobile or wearable device.
Claims20
A method of fabricating a lens assembly, the method comprising:
- providing a volume of curable optical polymer to a tube;
- inserting a plunger into the tube, wherein the plunger includes a head that contacts the curable optical polymer and defines a lensing curvature, and wherein the head is sized to closely fit an inside shape of the tube;
- curing the curable optical polymer while the plunger is inserted into the tube;
- and
- removing the plunger from the tube after the curing, wherein the curable optical polymer is cured into an optical element that includes the lensing curvature defined by the head of the plunger.
A device comprising:
- an image sensor;
- and
- a lens assembly configured to focus light onto the image sensor, the lens assembly comprising:
- a tube, the tube optically transparent to a first wavelength of ultraviolet (UV) light;
- a first optical element fabricated from a volume of UV curable optical polymer conveyed into the tube, wherein the UV curable optical polymer has a first refractive index, and wherein an outer boundary of the first optical element is cured to the tube;
- and
- a second optical element fabricated from a second optical polymer having a second refractive index different than the first refractive index.
A lens assembly comprising:
- a tube, the tube optically transparent to a first wavelength of light;
- an optical element, wherein the optical element is fabricated from a volume of optical polymer conveyed into the tube, the volume of optical polymer bonded to an inside shape of the tube, the volume of the optical polymer having a first refractive index;
- and
- at least one other optical element, the at least one other optical element fabricated from a second optical polymer conveyed into the tube and bonded to the inside shape of the tube, the second optical polymer having a second refractive index.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.