Patent Grant
8231217
This application is the National Stage of International Application No. PCT/FR2006/001728, filed on Jul. 13, 2006, which claims the priority of French Application No. 0507720, filed on Jul. 20, 2005. The contents of both applications are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.
The present invention relates to the production of transparent elements incorporating optical functions. It applies particularly to the production of ophthalmic lenses having various optical properties.
Ametropia correcting lenses are conventionally produced by forming a transparent material with refractive index higher than air. The shape of the lenses is selected so that the refraction at the interfaces between the material and the air causes appropriate focusing of the light on the wearer's retina. The lens is generally cut out to be fitted into a frame, with an appropriate positioning with respect to the pupil of the corrected eye.
Among the various types of lenses, or others not necessarily limited to ophthalmic optics, it would be desirable to propose a structure for implementing one or more optical functions in a flexible and modular manner, while preserving the possibility of cutting out the optical element obtained to incorporate it in a frame imposed or selected elsewhere, or in any other means for securing said optical element.
It is an object of the present invention to meet this need. A further object is to ensure that the optical element is suitable for industrial production under satisfactory conditions.
The invention thus proposes a method for producing a transparent optical element, comprising the production of a transparent optical component having at least:
The invention also proposes a method for producing a transparent optical element as defined above further comprising a step of cutting out the optical component along a contour defined on said surface, corresponding to a predefined shape for the optical element.
The cells can be filled with various substances selected for their optical properties, for example associated with their refractive index, their light absorption or polarization capacity, their response to electrical or light stimuli, etc.
Hence the structure lends itself to numerous applications, particularly those making use of evolved optical functions. It implies a discretization by pixels of the surface of the optical element, offering great flexibility in design and also in the processing of the element. Each pixel comprises a cell bounded by walls. The structure thus comprises a cell network bounded by walls and at least one absorbing coating, said coating being pixellized identically to the cell network. This absorbing coating, deposited in parallel to the surface of the optical component, and matching the geometry of the cell network, has the essential role of preventing the light from propagating through each of the component walls of said network. This absorbing coating may also, in another embodiment, have a width different from the strict width of the walls making up the cell network. It is easy to understand that said absorbing coating represents a discontinuous coating and that the absorbing material(s) is (are) only present at the level of the surface occupied by the component walls of the cell network with a width identical to or different from those of said walls.
It is possible to produce structures pixellized by discretization which consist of a succession of adjacent cells in the plane, separated by walls. These walls are the cause of a transparency defect of the optical component and they can accordingly cause a transparency defect of the optical element comprising such a component.
In the context of the invention, it is understood that an optical component is transparent when the observation of an image through said optical component is perceived without a significant loss of contrast, that is when the formation of an image through said optical component is obtained without reducing the image quality. This definition of the term transparent is applicable, in the context of the invention, to all the objects qualified as such in the description.
The walls separating the cells of the optical component interact with the light by diffracting it. Diffraction is defined as the scattering of light observed when a light wave is materially limited (J-P. Perez—Optique, Fondements et applications 7th edition—Dunod—October 2004, p. 262). Thus an optical component comprising such walls transmits a degraded image due to the diffraction induced by said walls. Microscopic diffraction appears macroscopically as scattering. This macroscopic or incoherent scattering results in a diffusing halo of the pixellized structure of the optical component and hence in a loss of contrast of the image observed through said structure. This loss of contrast can be considered as a loss of transparency, as defined above. This macroscopic scattering effect is unacceptable for producing an optical element comprising a pixellized optical component as understood in the context of the invention. This is particularly true when said optical element is an ophthalmic lens, which must on the one hand be transparent and on the other comprise no cosmetic defect that could hinder the view of the wearer of such an optical element.
One means of attenuating this macroscopic scattering consists in reducing the diffraction induced by the walls by preventing the light from propagating in said walls separating the cells. This is because the part of the light which is absorbed or reflected is not diffracted. Thus a wall for which the interaction with light is limited will diffract less than a wall allowing light to propagate. If we now consider a set of walls, the decrease in diffraction caused by each of the walls causes the reduction of the overall scattering aspect at the macroscopic level.
It is therefore one object of the present invention to produce a transparent optical component comprising a set of cells juxtaposed parallel to the surface of a substrate in which the cells are separated from one another by walls, and at least one absorbing coating, said coating being deposited parallel to the surface of said walls, and according to the geometry of the network bounded by the walls. In such optical component, said absorbing coating absorbs all or part of the light reaching the walls, thereby avoiding macroscopic scattering through the wall network, and accordingly enables to produce a transparent optical element comprising an optical component as described.
In the context of the invention, absorbing coating means here a coating comprising one or more materials which absorb in all or part of the visible spectrum, that is, which have at least one wavelength absorption band of between 400 nm and 700 nm. Advantageously according to the invention, a coating is preferably selected having an absorption band over the whole visible spectrum. The material(s) used for producing the coating may optionally comprise a spectral absorption band in the near infrared, that is above 700 nm and/or in the near ultraviolet, that is below 400 nm.
The absorbing coating is selected from a monolayer or multilayer coating. In the case of the monolayer coating, it may consist of a single absorbing material or may consist of a combination of at least two materials, each having an identical or different absorption band in the visible spectrum. It is, for example, possible to use two materials having complementary absorption bands in order to obtain a coating absorbing over the whole visible spectrum as defined above. In the case of a multilayer coating, each layer may consist of an identical or different material, both in their chemical nature and in their specific absorption band. Each layer may also consist of a mixture of a plurality of absorbing materials.
In a first embodiment of the invention, the optical component comprises at least one absorbing coating deposited parallel to the base of the wall surface. In a second embodiment, the optical component comprises at least one absorbing coating deposited parallel to the top of the wall surface.
In a third embodiment of the invention, the optical component comprises at least one absorbing coating deposited parallel to the base and to the top of the wall surface.
In these three embodiments, as stated previously, the absorbing coating has a thickness identical to or greater than the thickness of the wall on and/or under which it is deposited.
Advantageously according to the invention, the absorbing coating is deposited by a metallization process. This process can be implemented prior to the formation of said walls, or subsequent to the formation of said walls. When the metallization is carried out prior to the formation of the walls, said metallization process can be implemented directly on a rigid transparent support or in a flexible transparent film transferred later onto a rigid transparent support. In this metallization process, the absorbing coating consists of metal. The metals useable in the context of the invention are particularly aluminium, silver, chromium, titanium, platinum, nickel, copper, iron, zinc, tin, palladium and gold. Preferably, the absorbing material selected from silver, aluminium, titanium, chromium and gold.
Other materials can be used for producing the absorbing coating. As examples, mention can be made of hybrid materials such as sol-gel resins or composites such as ceramic/metal or silica/metal mixtures. Polymers intrinsically absorbing or made absorbing by doping, by diffusion or by absorption of absorbing particles may also be used in the context of the invention. A polymer comprising particles of carbon black may be an example for performing this role. A coating comprising one or more layers of carbon may also be deposited. Thus among the absorbing particles suitable for making an absorbing polymer useful for the invention, mention can be made particularly of dyes, inks, pigments, colloids, metal particles, alloys, carbon black, carbon nanotubes. These particles can easily be incorporated in polymers of the sol-gel, polyurethane, acrylate or epoxy type by methods well known to a person skilled in the art. The polymers thereby obtained have at least one absorption band of 400 nm and 700 nm, and preferably, absorb over the whole visible spectrum between 400 nm and 700 nm. They may optionally have an absorption band in the near ultraviolet or in the near infrared.
The invention thus comprises a method for producing an optical component having at least one transparent set of cells juxtaposed parallel to a surface of the component, the cells being separated by walls, comprising the following steps:
In an alternative of this method, it is possible to:
The implementation of such a method enables to deposit an absorbing coating directly on the rigid transparent support or the flexible transparent film; in other words, it is suitable for obtaining an optical component having at least one transparent set of cells juxtaposed parallel to a surface of the component, in which said cells are separated by walls comprising an absorbing coating in contact with the rigid transparent support or the flexible film and a layer of component transparent material(s) of said walls. In such a method, the walls are made absorbing by the presence of an absorbing coating at their base.
The cell network can be obtained by using production methods issuing from microelectronics, well known to a person skilled in the art. For illustration and in a non-limiting manner, mention can be made of methods such as hot printing, hot embossing, micromoulding, photolithography (hard, soft, positive, negative), microdeposition such as microcontact printing, screen printing, or inkjet printing.
In this embodiment, when the absorbing coating consists of one or more metal layers, the metal layer is for example etched by a RIE (Reactive Ion Etching) type of process. RIE is a physicochemical process which consists of a bombardment of the metal layer by a vertical ion beam. Several gases can be used in this process. Mention can be made for example of CF4, SF6, O2, CHF3, and Argon. This dry etching is anisotropic. The metal can also be attacked by wet etching by acidic or basic solutions.
In another embodiment, the invention comprises a method for producing an optical component having at least one transparent set of cells juxtaposed parallel to a surface of the component, the cells being separated by walls, comprising the following steps:
In such a method, the walls are made absorbing by the presence of an absorbing coating at their top; in other words, this method serves to obtain an optical component having at least one transparent set of cells juxtaposed parallel to a surface of the component, in which said cells are separated by walls comprising a layer of transparent material(s) in contact with the rigid transparent support or the flexible film, and an absorbing coating.
The absorbing coating has a height of between a few nanometers and 5 μm. Advantageously, the thickness of the coating is between 2 nm (nanometer) and 2 μm (microns).
In one alternative of the invention, the component material of the walls can itself be absorbing. In this case, the material is selected from polymers intrinsically absorbing or made absorbing by doping, diffusion, or absorption of absorbing particles.
All the walls (and consequently all the cells of the optical component) can be formed directly on a rigid transparent support, or in a flexible transparent film, then transferred onto a rigid transparent support. Said rigid transparent support may be convex, concave or planar on the side receiving the set of cells.
The geometry of the cell network is characterized by dimensional parameters which may generally be reduced to the dimensions (D) of the cells parallel to the surface of the optical component, to the height corresponding to the height (h) of the walls separating them, and to the thickness (d) of these walls (measured parallel to the component surface). Parallel to the component surface, the cells are preferably separated by walls having a thickness (d) of between 0.10 μm and 5 μm and a height (h) of less than 100 μm and preferably between 1 μm and 50 μm inclusive.
With a wall dimensioning as defined previously, it is possible to produce a set of cells juxtaposed on the surface of the optical component having a filling ratio t higher than 90%. In the context of the invention, the filling ratio is defined as the area occupied by the cells filled by the substance, per unit area of optical component. In other words, all the cells occupy at least 90% of the component surface, at least in a region of the component provided with all the cells. Advantageously, the filling ratio is between 90% and 99.5% inclusive.
In one embodiment of the method, the substance having an optical property contained in at least some of the cells is in liquid or gel form. Said substance can particularly have at least one of the optical properties selected from colouration, photochromism, polarization and refractive index.
The set of cells of the optical component may include several cell groups containing different substances. Similarly, each cell may be filled with a substance having one or more optical properties such as described previously. It is also possible to stack several sets of cells over the thickness of the component. In this embodiment, the sets of cells may have identical or different properties in each layer, or the cells in each set of cells may also have different optical properties. It is thereby possible to consider having one layer in which all the cells contain a substance for obtaining a variation in refractive index and another layer in which all the cells contain a substance having a photochromic property.
A further object of the present invention is a method for producing a transparent optical component as defined previously, which comprises forming of a wall network on a substrate to bound the cells parallel to said component surface, forming at least one absorbing coating parallel to the surface of said walls, a collective or individual filling of the cells with the substance having an optical property in liquid or gel form, and the sealing of the cells on their side opposite the substrate.
Another aspect of the invention relates to an optical component, used in the above method. This optical component comprises at least one transparent set of cells juxtaposed parallel to a surface of the component and at least one absorbing coating comprising at least one absorbing material, placed parallel to the surface of said walls, each cell being separated by walls. Each cell is hermetically sealed and contains at least one substance having an optical property.
Yet a further aspect of the invention relates to a transparent optical element, particularly a spectacle lens, produced by cutting out such an optical component. A spectacle lens comprises an ophthalmic lens. Ophthalmic lens means lenses adapted to a spectacle frame to protect the eye and/or correct the view, these lenses being selected from a focal, unifocal, bifocal, trifocal and progressive lenses. While ophthalmic optics is a preferred field of application of the invention, it can be understood that this invention is applicable to transparent optical elements of other types, such as, for example, lenses for optical instruments, filters particularly for photography or astronomy, optical sighting lenses, eyeshades, optics of lighting devices, etc. The scope of the invention includes ophthalmic lenses in ophthalmic optics, but also contact lenses and eye implants.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will appear in the description below of non-limiting embodiments, with reference to the drawings appended hereto, in which:
a shows a schematic cross section of an optical component according to a first embodiment of the invention;
b shows a schematic cross section of an optical component according to a second embodiment of the invention;
c shows a schematic cross section of an optical component according to a third embodiment of the invention.
The optical component 10 shown in
The general shape of the blank 10 may conform to industrial standards, with for example a circular contour 70 mm (millimeter) in diameter, a front convex side 12, and a back concave 13 (
In
The lateral dimensions (D) of the cells 15 (parallel to the surface of the blank 10) are larger than one micron and can be as high as a few millimeters. This cell network can thereby be produced with technologies fully mastered in the field of microelectronics or micromechanical devices. The height (h1) of the layer 17 constituting the walls 18 is preferably between 1 μm and 50 μm. The walls 18 have a thickness (d) of between 0.1 μm and 5.0 μm, particularly for obtaining a high filling ratio. The layer of absorbing materials 30 has a height (h2) of between a few nanometers and 5 μm. It may in particular constitute an aluminium layer with a height of 1 μm.
a is a first embodiment of the invention in which the absorbing coating is deposited parallel to the substrate surface and to the base (18a) of the walls. In the context of the invention, base of the walls means here the side of the walls parallel to the substrate surface and located at the shortest distance from said substrate. In this particular embodiment, the thickness of the layer of absorbing materials 30 present at the base of each of the walls constituting the cell network is identical to or greater than the thickness of said walls 18. This is easily obtained by using a mask during a process of etching the absorbing coating.
b is a second embodiment of the invention in which the absorbing coating is deposited parallel to the substrate surface and to the top (18b) of the walls. In the context of the invention, top of the walls means here the side of the walls parallel to the substrate surface and located at the longest distance from said substrate, that is, on the side opposite the substrate.
c is a third embodiment of the invention in which an absorbing coating (18) is deposited parallel to the substrate surface at the base (18a) and at the top (18b) of the walls.
The layer 17 incorporating the cell network 15 can be covered with a number of additional layers 19, 20 (
The transparent substrate 16 may be made from glass or various polymers commonly used in ophthalmic optics. Among the useable polymers, mention can be made, in a non-limiting manner, and for information, of polycarbonates; polyamides; polyimides; polysulphones; copolymers of polyethyleneterephtalate and polycarbonate; polyolefins, particularly polynorbornenes; polymers and copolymers of diethylene glycol bis(allylcarbonate); (meth)acrylic polymers and copolymers particularly (meth)acrylic polymers and copolymers derived from bisphenol-A; thio(meth)acrylic polymers and copolymers; urethane and thiourethane polymers and copolymers; epoxy polymers and copolymers; and episulphide polymers and copolymers.
The layer 17 incorporating the cell network is preferably located on the front convex side 12, the back concave side 13 remaining free to be optionally shaped by machining and polishing if necessary. The optical component may also be positioned on the concave side of a lens. Obviously, the optical component can also be integrated on a plane optical element.
The microcells 15 are filled with the substance having an optical property in the liquid or gel state. Prior treatment of the front side of the component may optionally be applied to facilitate the surface wetting of material of the walls and bottom of the microcells. The solution or suspension forming the substance having an optical property may be the same for all the microcells of the network, in which case it can be introduced simply by immersing the component in an appropriate bath, by a screen printing type of process, by a spin process, by spreading the substance using a roller or scraper, or by a spray process. It can also be injected locally into the individual microcells using a material jet unit.
To hermetically seal a set of filled microcells, an adhesive plastic film is applied for example, heat sealed or hot rolled on the top of the walls 18, or on the absorbing coating if the latter is present at the top of the walls. A solution polymerizable material can also be deposited on the zone to be sealed, the material being immiscible with the substance having an optical property present in the microcells, and the material can then be cured, for example by heat or irradiation.
Once the microcell network 15 has been completed, the component can receive the additional layers or coatings 19, 20 to complete its production. Components of this type are mass produced and stored to be retrieved later and cut out individually according to a client's requirements.
If the substance having an optical property is not intended to remain in the liquid or gel state, a solidification treatment can be applied thereto, for example a heating and/or irradiation sequence, at an appropriate stage from the time when the substance has been deposited.
In an alternative, the optical component consisting of a microcell network is constructed in the form of a flexible transparent film. Such a film can be obtained by techniques similar to those described previously. In this case, the film can be produced on a planar and non-convex or -concave support.
The film is, for example, produced industrially on a relatively large scale, then cut out to appropriate dimensions to be transferred onto the substrate 16 of a blank. This transfer can be made by bonding the flexible film, by thermoforming the film, or by a physical process of vacuum adhesion. The film can then receive various coatings, as in the previous case, or be transferred onto the substrate 16, itself coated with one or more additional layers as described above.
In one field of application of the invention, the optical property of the substance introduced into the microcells 15 is related to its refractive index. The refractive index of the substance is modulated along the surface of the component to obtain a corrective lens. In a first alternative of the invention, the modulation can be carried out by introducing substances of different refractive indexes during the production of the microcell network 15.
In another alternative of the invention, the modulation can be carried out by introducing into the microcells 15 a substance having a refractive index which can be adjusted subsequently by irradiation. The inscription of the corrective optical function is then performed by exposing the blank 10 or the lens 11 to light, with light-energy varying along the surface to obtain the desired refractive index profile in order to correct the vision of the patient. This light is typically that produced by a laser, the writing unit being similar to that used to write CD ROMs or other optical memory supports. The variation of the exposure of the photosensitive substance may result from a modulation of the laser power and/or the choice of the exposure time.
Among the substances that can be used for this application, mention can be made, for example, of mesoporous materials or liquid crystals. These liquid crystals can be fixed by a polymerization reaction, for example caused by irradiation. They can thus be fixed in a state selected to introduce a predefined optical delay in the light waves passing through. In the case of a mesoporous material, the refractive index of the material is controlled via variation of its porosity. Another possibility is to use photopolymers whereof a well known quality is to change the refractive index during the polymerization reaction caused by irradiation. These index variations are due to a modification of the density of the material and a change in its chemical structure. The photopolymers used are preferably those which only undergo a very small change in volume during the polymerization reaction.
The selective polymerization of the solution or suspension is carried out in the presence of a spatially differentiated radiation with regard to the component surface, in order to obtain the desired index modulation. This modulation is previously determined according to the estimated ametropia of the eye of a patient to be corrected.
In a further application of the invention, the substance introduced in gel or liquid form into the microcells has a polarization property. Among the substances used in this application, mention can be made particularly of liquid crystals.
In another application of the invention, the substance introduced in liquid or gel form into the microcells has a photochromic property. Among the substances used in this application, mention can be made for example of photochromic compounds containing a central core such as a spirooxazine, spiro-indoline[2,3′]benzoxazine, chromene, spiroxazine homoazaadamantane, spirofluorene-(2H)-benzopyrane or naphthol[2,1-b]pyrane ring.
In the context of the invention, the substance having an optical property may be a dye, or a pigment suitable for modifying the transmission rate.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 05 07720 | Jul 2005 | FR | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/FR2006/001728 | 7/13/2006 | WO | 00 | 1/18/2008 |
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| WO2007/010125 | 1/25/2007 | WO | A |
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