Abstract

Gradient-index lenses can be viewed from the perspectives of both imaging and nonimaging optics, that is, in terms of both image fidelity and achievable flux concentration. The simple class of gradient-index lenses with spherical symmetry, often referred to as modified Luneburg lenses, is revisited. An alternative derivation for established solutions is offered; the method of Fermat’s strings and the principle of skewness conservation are invoked. Then these nominally perfect imaging devices are examined from the additional vantage point of power transfer, and the degree to which they realize the thermodynamic limit to flux concentration is determined. Finally, the spherical gradient-index lens of the fish eye is considered as a modified Luneburg lens optimized subject to material constraints.

© 2000 Optical Society of America

Nominally stationary high-concentration solar optics by gradient-index lenses

Panagiotis Kotsidas, Vijay Modi, and Jeffrey M. Gordon
Opt. Express 19(3) 2325-2334 (2011)

Gradient-index lenses for near-ideal imaging and concentration with realistic materials

Panagiotis Kotsidas, Vijay Modi, and Jeffrey M. Gordon
Opt. Express 19(16) 15584-15595 (2011)

New method for designing the stigmatically imaging gradient-index lenses of spherical symmetry

J. Sochacki, J. R. Flores, and C. Gómez-Reino
Appl. Opt. 31(25) 5178-5183 (1992)

Nonimaging optical designs for maximum-power-density remote irradiation

Daniel Feuermann, Jeffrey M. Gordon, and Harald Ries
Appl. Opt. 37(10) 1835-1844 (1998)

Symplectic numerical methods in optics and imaging: ray tracing in spherical gradient-index lenses and computer-generated image rendering

Ben McKeon and Alexander V. Goncharov
Appl. Opt. 62(32) 8621-8631 (2023)