A cylindrical lens is a type of lens that passes through light onto a line. This is in comparison to how a spherical lens passes through light onto a single point. Each face of a cylindrical lens is curved in order to focus an image onto a line that is parallel to the surface and tangent plane's intersection.

 

These cylinder lenses are often used in order to change the aspect ratio of an image which is being passed through it. The light is focused onto a single dimension which stretches the image. Cylindrical lenses are used as laser line generators or to change the height of an image. They can also be used to correct astigmatism found in imaging systems. Two cylindrical lenses could be used to make an elliptical beam into a circle.

 

Because a cylindrical lens is not spherical, this greatly decreases the amount of spherical aberration, along with the amount of chromatic aberration. Its primary function is to amplify one-dimensional images. This purpose can be used for linear detection lighting, bar code scanning, holographic lighting, optical information processing, computers, laser emissions, et cetera.

 

A cylindrical lens can be offered in many configurations. This includes a plano-concave configuration, meant to expand light, and a plano-convex configuration, meant to focus light. Another use of cylindrical lenses is to expand a laser diode's output and form it into a symmetrical beam.

 

Overall, cylindrical lenses are used for many specific purposes. However, the overall purpose of these lenses, regardless of configuration, is to manipulate light on a one-dimensional surface using a single access. This can result in the shaping of light beams for many different purposes. Learn more about aspheric lenses come visit us at our site.