Contact lens with improved visual performance and minimized halo utilizing pupil apodization

A soft contact lens having improved visual performance, the soft contact lens comprising:

• an optical zone surrounding a lens center and having a radius;
• and
• a peripheral zone surrounding the optical zone and extending to a lens edge, wherein the contact lens is configured with a smooth pupil apodization function centered around said lens center and extending to said lens edge to modulate the amplitude transmission profile of the soft contact lens such that transmissivity of the lens decreases continuously from the lens center to the lens edge, a neutral density filter is applied to the soft contact lens to implement the smooth pupil apodization function, the smooth pupil apodization function is expressed mathematically as A(r)=exp(−α*(r2/r02)), wherein in making the calculation for A(r) a ranges between 0.1 and 10, r0 is set equal to said radius of said optical zone, and r ranges between 0 and r0.