Abstract

Single point diamond turning has been increasingly exploited in recent years to produce optical components of exceptional optical quality for high power lasers and other optical systems. We report here on the successful application of this machining process to the fabrication of aspherically-corrected geodesic lenses in lithium niobate substrates for integrated optics. Not only are these lenses capable of producing near-diffraction-limited images at moderate f-numbers, but the images are also precisely located in predetermined focal planes. This greatly enhances the economic promise of IO because it eliminates the costly and time consuming optical characterization and subsequent design correction which are necessary adjuncts of other lens fabrication methods. High yields and excellent reproducibility have been demonstrated in every machining run.

© 1980 Optical Society of America