US 12,285,909 B2
High-throughput 3D printing of customized aspheric imaging lenses
Xiangfan Chen, Evanston, IL (US); Wenzhong Liu, Evanston, IL (US); Hao F. Zhang, Evanston, IL (US); and Cheng Sun, Evanston, IL (US)
Assigned to Northwestern University, Evanston, IL (US)
Appl. No. 16/975,458
Filed by Northwestern University, Evanston, IL (US)
PCT Filed Mar. 8, 2019, PCT No. PCT/US2019/021288
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Aug. 25, 2020,
PCT Pub. No. WO2019/173674, PCT Pub. Date Sep. 12, 2019.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/641,072, filed on Mar. 9, 2018.
Prior Publication US 2021/0016496 A1, Jan. 21, 2021
Int. Cl. B33Y 10/00 (2015.01); B29C 64/129 (2017.01); B33Y 30/00 (2015.01); B29C 35/08 (2006.01); B29K 105/00 (2006.01); B33Y 70/00 (2020.01); B33Y 80/00 (2015.01)
CPC B29C 64/129 (2017.08) [B33Y 10/00 (2014.12); B29C 35/0805 (2013.01); B29C 2035/0827 (2013.01); B29K 2105/0058 (2013.01); B33Y 30/00 (2014.12); B33Y 70/00 (2014.12); B33Y 80/00 (2014.12)] 22 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method for additive manufacture of a three-dimensional object based on a computational model, the method comprising steps of:
grayscale photohardening a precursor material to form, as a photohardened precursor material, a baseline portion of the three-dimensional object; and
applying a hardened meniscus coating by forming a liquid meniscus on the baseline portion of the object formed as the photohardened precursor material and then hardening the liquid meniscus;
wherein the three-dimensional object is formed via at least the combination of the steps of grayscale photohardening and applying the meniscus coating;
wherein the three-dimensional object is a lens; and the lens is characterized by a field distortion of less than 0.15% across a field of view greater than or equal to 2 mm for light wavelengths of 441 nm, 532 nm, or 635 nm; and
wherein the method has a reproducibility characterized by a standard deviation of a surface profile of the lens of less than 3 μm over a 2 mm range of the diameter of the lens.