Patent Application
20120019912
This application claims the priority of Japanese application No. 2009-082300 filed Mar. 30, 2009, the entire content of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
The present invention relates to a lens with a NA of 0.7 or more in highly accurate shape.
In recent years, research and development of a high density optical disc system capable of recording and/or reproducing (hereinafter, “record and/or reproduce” will be referred as “record/reproduce”) information by using a blue-violet semiconductor laser with wavelength of about 400 nm are proceeding swiftly. As an example, in the case of an optical disc on which information is recorded/reproduced under the specifications that NA is 0.85 and alight source wavelength is 405 an, namely, in the case of the so-called Blu-ray Disc (hereinafter, BD), it is possible to record information of 23 to 27 GB per layer for an optical disc with a diameter of 12 cm, which is same in size as DVD (NA is 0.6, wavelength of a light some is 650 nm, and memory capacity is 4.7 GB). This optical disc is referred as a high density optical disc in the present specification.
As an objective lens for use in an optical pickup apparatus, there is disclosed an objective lens obtained by molding resin, for example, in Patent Literature 1.
As for the lens disclosed in Patent Literature 1, a connecting area is arranged on a portion on a lens surface which is outside how an intersection of the outermost ray within numerical aperture NA and the lens surface, in order to avoid defective molding of a lens. According to a result of study of the present inventor, it has been found that, even when such the connection area is provided, defective molding such as flow marks can be generated under the condition that a thickness deviation ratio (which will be described below) is large. On the other hand, excessively small thickness deviation ratio makes the flange thickness thick, and the effective aperture is hardly enlarged. Accordingly, in a high-NA lens with a large effective aperture, a lens design cannot be achieved in view of optics under the condition that the thickness deviation ratio is small.
The present invention has been achieved in view of the above problem in the prior art, and is intended to provide a lens which allows to control defects caused in a molding process in a high-NA lens and which is easy to handle.
A lens described in Item 1 is a lens which is molded out of a resin material, comprises a flange section on a periphery and has a numerical aperture of 0.7 or more, characterized by comprising:
4.1>d/t>2.8 (1)
According to the results of the study of the present inventor, it has been found that, though the defective molding can be controlled by arranging the transition surface, the defective molding such as flow marks can be generated even when the transition surface is provided under the condition that d/t (which is referred as a thickness deviation ratio) is 4.1 or more. On the other hand, under the condition that d/t is 2.8 or less, the thickness of a flange becomes excessively thin and the lens is hardly attached to a device with accuracy, for example, when it is an objective leas for an optical pickup apparatus. Therefore, by satisfying the expression (1), a lens with controlled defective molding and excellent property of attachment can be provided.
A lens descried in Item 2 is characterized by satisfying the following accession, in the leas of Item 1. Therefore, a lens with NA of 0.7 or more can be molded while the defective molding is controlled more effectively.
3.8>d/t>3.3 (1′)
A lens described in Item 3 is characterized by satisfying the following expression, in the lens of Item 1 or 2, where Δ (mm) is a thickness of the flange section along the optical axis.
t<Δ (2)
For example, in an objective lens for use in a general optical pickup apparatus, a flange section which connects to a connecting area has a uniform thickness. Such the form can control the defective molding with relatively ease, by providing a connecting mea. On the other hand, in recent years, a lens achieving both of a thin axial thickness and a thick flange section has been desired. In such the lens, the intermediate end surface is needed to be located closer to the second surface than a surface of the flange section at the first-surface side. Under such the situation, the flow direction of resin which goes to a cavity changes rapidly, which causes defective molding such as flow marks easily. According to that, when the lens is configured such that the thickness deviation ratio d/t satisfies the expression (1), the defective molding can be controlled effectively. In other words, it is especially preferable that the thickness deviation ratio satisfies the expression (1) in a lens satisfying the expression (2).
A lens described in Item 4 is characterized by satisfying the following expression, in the lens of any one of Items 1 to 3, where D1 is a diameter of an area from the optical axis to an inner circumference of the transition surface and D2 is a diameter of an area from the optical axis to an inner circumference of the intermediate and surface.
0.88<D1/D2<0.98 (3)
When the value of D1/D2 is the upper limit of the expression (3) or more, D1≈D2 holds, which makes a forming process of a mold for molding the above lens difficult. On the other hand, the value of D1/D2 is the lower limit of the expression (3) or less, the transition surface becomes excessively large, which brings decrease of the thickness deviation ratio d/t and is not preferable. Therefore, the condition satisfying the expression (3) is preferable.
A lens described in Item 5 is characterized by satisfying the following expression, in the lens of Item 4.
0.94<D1/D2<0.975 (3′).
A lens described in Item 6 is characterized in that, in the lens of any one of Items 1 to 5, a width of the intermediate end surface along the direction perpendicular to the optical axis is 50 μm or more. Therefore, it has an advantage that a mold for molding the lens can be costly formed.
A lens described in Item 7 is characterized in that, in the lens of any one of Items 1 to 6, a diffractive structure is formed on at least apart of the fast surface. As for a lens baying a diffractive structure formed on at least a part of the first surface, its molding is especially difficult. Therefore, in the case that the lens is a lens which has compatibility for three media including a BD and which includes diffractive structures on all the surfaces, its molding process is further more difficult and the effect of the present invention is hoped.
That is no limitation for resin, as far as it is a transparent thermoplastic resin which is generally used as an optical material. However, in view of workability as an optical element, the followings are preferable: actyl resin, cyclic olefin resin, polycarbonate resin, polyester resin, polyether resin, polyimide resin and polyimide resin. As an applicable thermoplastic resin, for example, there can be cited compositions described in JP-A No. 2003-73559.
According to the present invention, there can be provided a lens such that defects caused in a molding process can be controlled in a high-NA lens and an excellent attachment property is exhibited.
Each of
a is an enlarged view of a section 11 pointed by an avow in lens OE in
Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with referring to the drawings.
As shown in
On first mold 10, there are formed first flange end transferring surface 11b to be connected to taper surface 31d of insert 30 which is fitted into first mold 10, for transferring and molding the first end surface of a flange section of a lens; and first flange circumference transferring surface 11c which is perpendicular to first flange end transferring surface 11b, for transferring and molding the circumference surface of the flange section. First flange end transferring surface 11b is perpendicular to axis X of first optical surface transferring surface 31a (an optical axis of the lens). It is preferable that a chamfer section is arranged on an intersectional position of first flange end transferring surface 11b and fast flange circumference transferring surface 11c.
Second mold 20 includes, around optical axis X as the center, second optical surface transferring surface 21a for transferring and molding the second optical surface of the lens; taper surface 21b arranged next to second optical surface transferring surface 21a; second flange end transferring surface 21c arranged next to taper surface 21b, for transferring and molding the second end surface of the flange section; and second flange circumference transferring surface 21d which is perpendicular to second flange end transferring surface 21c, for transferring and molding the circumference of flange section. Second flange end transferring surface 21c is perpendicular to central axis X of second optical surface transferring surface 21a (the optical axis of the lens). It is preferable that a chamfer section is arranged on an intersectional position of second flange end transferring surface 21c and second flange circumference transferring surface 21d, too.
As shown in As shown in
Next, a method of molding a lens will be described. At first, insert 30 is inserted into opening 11a of first mold 10 as shown in
Optical surface transferring surfaces 31a and 21a art heated to a predetermined temperature at the time of mold closing by heating first mold 10 and second mold 20 by a heater which is not illustrated. After that, resin which is pressurized at an arbitral pressure is supplied through runner 22 and gate GT from a nozzle which is not illustrated (see
Next, after molten resin is solidified with shapes of transferring surfaces 31a to 31d, 11b to 11c and 21a to 21d being transferred thereon, the mold temperature is decreased to cool and solidify the resin.
After that, when first mold 10 and insert 30, and second mold 20 are relatively moved to carry out mold opening, a molded body including lens OE is exposed with sticking to fast mold 10. When lens OE is separated from such the molded body, lens OE as a single body is formed.
According to the present embodiment, transition surface transferring surface 31b for forming a transition surface is formed between the first optical surface transferring surface 31a and intermediate end surface transferring surface 31c, which can prevent a rapid change of the direction of resin moving toward a cavity in a molding process and allows highly accurate molding with controlling generation of flow marks even when lens OE with large thickness deviation ratio is molded.
In
In lens OE′ of a comparative example shown in
It is generally said that width W of intermediate end surface OE11c in the direction perpendicular to the optical axis is required to be 50 μm or more for reasons of manufacturing insert 30. As for an objective lens for an optical pickup apparatus, it is torn about 50 μm to about 150 μm generally. Accordingly, in lens OE relating to the present embodiment, its minimum thickness t along the optical axis at intermediate end surface OE11c is larger than the minimum thickness t′ of lens OE′ of the comparative example along the optical axis at intermediate end surface OE11c, when transition surface OE11b is formed in lens OE, under the assumption that the maximum outer circumferences are uniform. Herein, the minimum thickness t along the optical axis at intermediate end surface OE11c is smaller than thickness Δ of flange section OEF along the optical axis. When thickness Δ of flange section OEF along the optical axis is secured to be large, it has advantages such that, under the condition that lens OE is put on a flat surface, the lens is hardly damaged because of a space formed between second optical surface OE21a and the flat surface. In order to realize a compact lens OE, it is preferable that border B is arranged at a place that is closer to second optical surface OE21a than first end surface OE11e of flange section OEF and that is close to first optical surface OE11a than intermediate end surface OE11c.
Next, results of experiments which have been conducted by the present inventor will be described. The present inventor designed objective lenses with a numerical aperture of 0.85 for an optical pickup apparatus exclusively for a Blu-ray Disc, where the objective lenses have various thickness deviation ratios and various sizes of transition surfaces. The present inventor prepared molds (see
Tables 1 and 2 show the evaluation results. In Tables 1 and 2, the thickness deviation ratio is given by d/t. In Table 2, a splitting ratio is given by D1/D2×100. In the tables, as for the evaluation of appearance defects, the condition that molding defects such as flow marks were caused in 2% or less of samples is represented by the symbol A, the condition that the mold defects were caused in 2% to 5% of samples is represented by the symbol B, the condition that the mold defects were caused in 5% to 10% of samples is represented by the symbol C, and the condition that the mold defects were caused in 10% or more of samples is represented by the symbol D. As for the evaluation of configuration, the condition that the thickness deviation ratio was 33 or more is represented by the symbol A, the condition that the ratio was 33 to 2.8 is represented by the symbol B, the condition that the ratio was 2.8 to 2.5 is represented by the symbol C, and the condition that the ratio was less than 2.5 is represented by the symbol D.
The evaluation results in Table 1 show that, when the thickness deviation ratio this 4.1 or less and is 2.8 or more, a molding process can be conducted without problems in actual use. Further, the results show that the thickness deviation ratio d/t in the range of 3.8 or less and 3.3 or more is preferable, for achieving both of proper appearance defects and proper configuration which generally have a trade-off relationship.
The evaluation results in Table 2 show that, when the split ratio (D1/D2×100) is 88% or more and is 98% or less, a molding process can be conducted without problems. Further, the results show that the split ratio of 94% or more and 97.5% or less is preferable for making the configuration into an excellent condition.
As described above, the present invention has been descried with reference to embodiments. However, it is to be understood that the present invention should not be interpreted under limitations of the above embodiments and various changes and modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art. For example, the present invention can be applied for various lenses not only for an objective lens for use in an optical pickup apparatus.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009-082300 | Mar 2009 | JP | national |
This application is a U.S. National Phase Application under 35 USC 371 of International Application PCT/JP2010/052726 filed Feb. 23, 2010.
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/JP2010/052726 | 2/23/2010 | WO | 00 | 9/27/2011 |
