Lens-design Software: Freeform LED lens-design approach produces high uniformity

One of the most actively developed uses for freeform optics right now is as light collectors and uniformizers for spotlight and directional-floodlight general-illumination LEDs. Due to a diffuse—and often nonrotationally symmetric—directional light output, a bare white-light LED device itself (usually consisting of a flat blue LED with a layer of yellow YAG phosphor), while very bright, cannot efficiently serve as a floodlight illuminator; it needs to be paired with optics. Freeform optics, with their many tweakable degrees of freedom, are an ideal choice.

Read Full Article on Laser Focus World …

Nature’s designs inspire research into new light-based technologies

Solutions required for progress on the frontiers of photonics technology are close at hand: in nature, when viewed through the perspective of engineer, says Montana State University optics researcher Joseph Shaw. Along with Rongguang Liang of the University of Arizona, Shaw chaired the ‘Light in Nature’ conference presenting new research in the field last month at SPIE Optics + Photonics and being published in the SPIE Digital Library.

1 2