Seminar on "High Volume Manufacturing of Precision Optics at Macro, Meso and Micro Scale"

In this presentation, high volume manufacturing processes of glass and polymer optics of different scales,In this presentation, high volume manufacturing processes of glass and polymer optics of different scales,ranging from large telescope optics to diffractive optics used in many consumer products are discussed. Forglass materials, due to its intrinsic material properties, it is difficult to produce high precision glass opticsusing conventional manufacturing processes. Precision glass molding, sometimes referred to as PGM, isconsidered a viable alternative. In this process, a glass or plastic preform, usually in the form of gob or diskis heated rapidly above its glass transition temperature and then pressed using two optical mold halves tofinish dimensions followed by a slow cooling/annealing to room temperature. Professor Yi’s research seeksfundamental understanding of glass molding process, from lens forming, to mold making, to molding processmodeling. The scope of his research on this topic also includes work in numerical modeling and experimentalmeasurements of stress and structural relaxation, as well as refractive index variation in molded optics.Manufacturing of precision polymer optics in high volume on the other hand is a much mature technology.However, due to complex behaviors of the polymer melts during molding (most often injection molding),optical characteristics of the molded plastic lenses largely are determined by the molding processes used.Extensive research and development have been conducted to answer these fundamental questions. As partof the presentation, a few examples are also provided.