Regular paper

Fresnel lens sidewall design for imaging optics

¹ Nikon and Essilor International Joint Research Center Co., Ltd., Kawasaki, 213-0012, JAPAN
² Nikon System Inc., Mathematical analysis Department, Shinagawa, 140-0015, JAPAN
³ Nikon Corp., MS laboratory, Yokohama, 244-8533, JAPAN

^* Toru.Fujii@nikon.com

Received: 30 October 2014
Revised: 24 February 2015

Abstract

We developed a ray tracing simulation tool for imaging systems including a Fresnel lens with a quasi-arbitrary sidewall structure. One issue with Fresnel lens is that noise in the image plane can appear from rays passing through or reflected at its sidewalls. One way to reduce it is to modify the orientation of the sidewalls so that rays will not reach the image plane. To find the best sidewall orientations, we developed a method where locally, a sidewall can freely be oriented. We could then derive the best modulation scheme for each Fresnel lens sidewall. In the case of a single imaging Fresnel lens, relative parasite noise intensity could mostly be prevented. To experimentally check our method, snapshot images were taken with single Fresnel lenses and a single spherical lens. No noticeable differences in image quality could be observed using a standard C-MOS camera. However, parasite noise could experimentally be detected with a Fresnel lens prototype when using a very high-dynamic range C-MOS camera.