Lens array

A lens array with a hexagon pattern

A lens array is a collection of lenses arranged in a specific pattern or grid. It can be used in light field cameras and light field displays.

A lens array with a lens width less than 1 millimeter is a microlens array.

Each lens in the array has its own optical axis. However, when the array is viewed as a cohesive unit, the lenses form a shared main optical axis.

The side with the roundings should generally face towards the source of the light. In a display, this means that the user's eye faces the flat side of the array.

Lens arrays can be found in infra-red motion detectors.

Manufacturing

Lens arrays can be produced using microfabrication techniques, in particular photolithographic techniques.

Lens arrays have been manufactured at the wafer level by Lytro.

Lens arrays have been produced with a distance between lenses of about 125 microns, which is 1/8 of a millimeter.

To make a plenoptic lens based display, each lens should be at the minimum 200 pixels wide and 200 pixels long.

Materials

• Glass
• PMMA
• Fused silica

Uses

A lens array can be found in a light field camera.

Unusual

It is possible to make a microlens array using fresnel lenses.

It is theoretically possible to make a liquid lens array.

It is theoretically possible to make a lens array that has a general curve to it, like on a semisphere.

A lens array can potentially be made out of a holographic optical element.