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Since the recent (2019) mathematical discovery allowing elimination of spherical aberration[1], I've wondered if lenses will either be simplified, or redesigned for better optical performance.

[1] https://arxiv.org/abs/1811.03792



Having an analytical formula is nice, but in practice this has been solved numerically for many decades.


Doubtful. Those mathematically optimal surfaces look like a complete nightmare to manufacture out of optical glass.


Unless the lenses have bits that 'overhang' it would seem possible to simply CNC mill the whole thing?

A lens needs accuracy to ~the wavelength, so 400nm. That seems doable with not so specialist CNC tech.


Sub-µm accuracy is not at all easy for a CNC mill and the surface quality is way to bad for optics.

Commercial aspheres are polished with special CNC grinders, but achieve nowhere near the quality of spherical lenses. Only recently magnetorheological finishing became available which allows getting a bit closer in quality.

In most applications, it makes more sense to stack a few spherical lenses instead of manufacturing a super expensive custom asphere which cannot even compensate for chromatic aberrations.


Doable? A common turning precision (you don't want to mill figures of rotation) is 0.01mm or so. You need four more orders of magnitude.


I'd love to read up on that not so specialist CNC tech, considering most of the CNCs brag about having tolerances of ± 0.0025mm.


Only if you consider a Moore Nanotech diamond-turning machine "not so specialist"...




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