Modeling of hybrid polymer optical systems

Polymeric materials with optical properties are introduced widely into development of novel and complex optical devices. Applications include various imaging and illumination systems, medical devices, scanning and recognition of barcodes, fingerprint scanners, motion and presence sensors, CCD cameras, laser collimation systems, etc. To achieve high performance of optical systems combination of components made of conventional optical glasses and polymers is proposed. Such hybrid lenses could have decreased aberrations and improved image quality as well as be more compact and lightweight. Technological aspects of optical glass and polymer combination are observed in the paper. Computer modeling of a high-aperture hybride micro-lens using Zemax software is presented. Selection of appropriate optical polymers is described. Discussion of effective introduction of polymer components into the lens design is provided.