In the field of vehicle lighting, due to the diode laser, its small size and high energy conversion efficiency, it can be effectively used as the headlight source of high beam. In recent years, it was adopted by European advanced car manufacturers as a new generation of automotive headlight lighting products. The current mature technology on the market is to extend the laser beam by means of reflection and to use a single high-power laser as the light source to meet the needs of surface lighting. In this research, we propose a new integrated optical design for an automotive headlight system with the rod lens, gradient-index lens (GRIN lens) and freeform lens to expand the laser beam. With regard to the diffusion of the beam by reflection and refraction, the liquid lens is used as a switch for the high beam and low beam lights to meet the needs of vehicle lighting functions and to use low-power diode lasers to synthesize the array light source. Compared with the 24-W LED headlight module available in the current market, the energy saved by this proposed optical design can increase efficiency by an average of 33%. The maximum illuminance is 56.6 lux in the high-beam mode, which is 18% higher than the standard value. Let the laser light meet the lighting requirements of regulatory standard values even beyond.

A projection lens with a 30-degree field of view is developed for use in augmented reality (AR) glasses, including a waveguide combiner designed for a 0.35-inch LCoS panel. The entrance pupil diameter of the lens is 14 mm and the lens has an effective focal length of 16.443 mm; an F-number of 1.175. This paper has four key issues: optical projection lens design, lens manufacturing and assembly tolerance analysis, projection lens resolution testing, and AR glasses system resolution testing of panel images projected by the projection lens. After lens manufacture, the lens was tested, achieving a central field image quality of 57 cycles/mm, an angular resolution of 33 pixels per degree (PPD), a 0.7 field image quality of 40.3 cycles/mm, and an angular resolution of 23 pixels per degree (PPD). Imaging performance testing based on a diffraction-type waveguide shows a resolution of 57 cycles/mm in the center area and an angular resolution of 33 PPD.

This study proposes a three-lens design with a short lens length and explores the curved imaging plane and performs a relative illumination analysis. There are two ways to reduce the lens length: shortening the back focal and lens group lengths. We derived the relevant parameter relationships of three lenses using the first-order geometric optics theory. The optical lens length can be controlled within 2 mm. The shorter the lens length, the larger the angle of the chief ray in the image space, resulting in an increase in the field curvature and astigmatism. Third-order Seidel aberrations can be effectively reduced by a curved image plane. We also derived the equations for relative illuminance, solid angle, surface transmittance, and internal transmittance for the short three-lens design. The optical lens design uses a curved image plane to shorten the distance from the off-axis beam image space to the image plane and reduce the incident angle of the chief ray on the image plane. The formula and design results verified by Code V software (version 11.2) show that both the solid angle and relative contrast of the lens can be increased. For the proposed three-lens design with a short lens length, the semi-field angle is 32°, F/# is 2.7, the effective focal length is 1.984 mm, the image plane area is 2.16 mm × 1.22 mm, and the curvature radius of the concave image plane is 3.726 mm. Moroever, the MTF (100 lp/mm) is larger than 52%, the lateral color aberration is less than 2.12 μm, the optical distortion is less than 2.00%, and the relative illumination is greater than 68%.

Designing a compact collimating lens system for augmented reality (AR) applications presents significant optical challenges. This paper presents a compact, 50-degree field-of-view collimating lens system explicitly designed for lightguide-based AR glasses. The compact collimating lens is designed for a 0.32-inch microdisplay and consists of four plastic aspherical lenses. The optical design results in a collimating lens with a F-number of 2.17 and an entrance pupil diameter of 4 mm. Optical distortion is less than 0.29%, and the modulation transfer function (MTF) is greater than 0.23 at 250 cycles/mm. The overall lens diameter, including the lens barrel, measures 10.16 mm, while the lens length is 11.48 mm. The lens volume is 0.93 cm³, and its mass is 1.08 g. Compared to existing collimator designs, this approach significantly improves the trade-off between field of view, optical quality, and device miniaturization. The proposed design supports integration with 0.32-inch microdisplays, making it a practical and manufacturable solution for next-generation AR eyewear. This paper presents innovative contributions to the optical design of AR glasses, demonstrating considerable potential in reducing size and weight, and optimizing optical performance.

This study presents the design and optimization of a digital-imaging afocal telescope system that integrates an afocal telescope architecture with an imaging optical subsystem. The proposed system employs a combination of spherical and aspherical optical elements to enhance imaging flexibility, reduce aberrations, and ensure effective system coupling. Proper pupil matching is achieved by aligning the exit pupil of the afocal telescope with the entrance pupil of the imaging system, ensuring minimal vignetting and optimal energy transfer. Circular apertures and lens elements are used throughout the system to simplify alignment and minimize pupil-matching errors. The complete system comprises three imaging optical subsystems and a digital camera module, each independently optimized to ensure balanced optical performance. The design achieves an overall magnification of 16×, with near-diffraction-limited quality confirmed by an RMS wavefront error of 0.0474λ and a Strehl ratio of 0.915. The modulation transfer function (MTF) reaches 0.42 at 80 lp/mm, while the distortion remains below 4.87%. Chromatic performance is well controlled, with maximum lateral color deviations of 1.007 µm (short-to-long wavelength) and 1.52 µm (short-to-reference wavelength), evaluated at 656 nm, 587 nm, and 486 nm. The results demonstrate that the proposed digital-imaging afocal telescope system provides high-resolution, low-aberration imaging suitable for precision optical applications.