Method of fabricating a lens made of transparent polymer with modulated refracting index
AssigneeEsslior International (Compagnie Generale d'Optique)
InventorsDominique Baude, Daniel Lougnot
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Abstract
The present invention relates to a method of manufacture of an optical lens providing refractive index modulation, characterized in that, starting from a previously shaped lens of transparent hydrophilic polymer of the hydrogel type, the lens is impregnated with a photopolymerizable composition containing at least one monomer and a photoinitiator in solution in a solvent which causes swelling of the lens, the impregnated lens is subjected to irradiation which is spatially modulated in irradiation intensity and/or irradiation time, thus causing local selective polymerization of the monomer, whereupon the excess quantity of photoinitiator and non-polymerized monomer is removed by solvent extraction.
Claims20
Method of manufacture of an optical lens or ocular implant providing refractive index modulation, comprising starting from a previously shaped lens of transparent hydrophilic polymer of the hydrogel type, said lens is impregnated with a photopolymerizable composition containing at least one monomer and one photoinitiator in solution in a solvent which causes swelling of the lens, the impregnated lens is subjected to irradiation which is spatially modulated in irradiation intensity and/or in irradiation time, thus producing selective local polymerization of the monomer, whereupon the excess quantity of photoinitiator and non-polymerized monomer is removed by solvent extraction.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.