Optical Fabrication

DeGroote Nelson, Jessica, Optimax Systems, Inc.

doi:10.1117/3.2599940.ch3

Optical Fabrication

Book: Review of Optical Manufacturing 2000 to 2020

Editor(s): Aizhong Zhang; Richard N. Youngworth

Author(s): Jessica DeGroote Nelson

Published: 2021

https://doi.org/10.1117/3.2599940.ch3

Author Affiliations +

Abstract

Optical components, or lenses, have been used for thousands of years. Ancient artifacts that appear to be lens shaped pieces of rock crystal have been dated to approximately 1600 BCE. It was hundreds of years later when we first have documentation about the fabrication processes used to create these optics. Corrective lenses were said to be used by Abbas Ibn Firnas in the 9th century, who had devised a way to produce very clear glass. He shaped and polished his glass into round rocks that he used for magnified viewing. He called these rocks “reading stones”. Circa 1719, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek built a simple microscope with only one lens to examine blood, yeast, insects and many other tiny objects. Leeuwenhoek was the first person to describe bacteria, and he also invented new methods for grinding and polishing microscope lenses that allowed for curvatures providing magnifications of up to 270-mm diameters, the best available lenses at that time. Optical fabrication methods continued to advance over the years, highlighted by Sir Isaac Newton and Frank Twyman. Newton is often cited for his use of optical polishing pitch to polish the optics for his telescope. Twyman also made significant contributions to the field of optical fabrication.