Design and fabrication of plastic diffractive / refractive hybrid lenses for image communication

We discuss the design and fabrication of CCD or C-MOS imaging lenses with hybrid diffractive / refractive optics. The hybrid lenses are made of optical grade plastic materials. We have been able to significantly reduce the number of elements while maintaining very high optical quality. This paper describes the conception, design, fabrication and evaluation of hybrid lenses in comparison with conventional refractive lenses. The new lens has excellent optical quality, very light weight, compact size and low manufacturing cost.