Optical components provider Edmund Optics (EO; Barrington, NJ) has formed a working relationship with LUXeXceL Group BV (Goes, Netherlands) to bring 3D printed plastic optics to the photonics industry.
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At Edmund Optics booth 1615 during Photonics West, a variety of 3D printed optics designed by Edmund Optics and printed by LUXeXceL were on display. The demo showed firsthand how 3D printed lens arrays compared to traditional glass molding in a hands-on illumination application. LUXeXceL also described their technology at the Edmund Optics booth on Wednesday, February 11, at 3:30 pm.
"We're always interested in offering new technologies for our customers to elevate their applications," said Samuel Sadoulet, president and COO of Edmund Optics. "Creating optics with LUXeXceL's patented Printoptical [copyright] Technology is a great advancement in the manufacture of 3D printed optics and we are thrilled to bring these components to the photonics industry. I am excited that this cooperation will make it easy for designers to prototype, fine-tune, and ultimately perfect their designs, enabling the next generation of optically driven products."
LUXeXceL Group says it is the world's first 3D printing--also called additive manufacturing-- service for optically transparent and very smooth products. With their additive manufacturing services, optical components such as micro structures, arrays, prisms, and freeform lenses are all possible. LUXeXceL’s 3D printed plastic optics are ideal for illumination, photovoltaic, and prototyping applications.
"We look forward to our joint effort with Edmund Optics to bring 3D printed optics to the photonics industry," said Richard van de Vrie, president of LUXeXceL. "They are well-respected for their market knowledge and have a long-standing history of excellence in optics."
To learn more about 3D printed optics visit http://www.edmundoptics.com/printed-optics.
SOURCE: Edmund Optics; http://www.edmundoptics.com/company/press-releases/press-article.cfm?id=459
Gail Overton | Senior Editor (2004-2020)
Gail has more than 30 years of engineering, marketing, product management, and editorial experience in the photonics and optical communications industry. Before joining the staff at Laser Focus World in 2004, she held many product management and product marketing roles in the fiber-optics industry, most notably at Hughes (El Segundo, CA), GTE Labs (Waltham, MA), Corning (Corning, NY), Photon Kinetics (Beaverton, OR), and Newport Corporation (Irvine, CA). During her marketing career, Gail published articles in WDM Solutions and Sensors magazine and traveled internationally to conduct product and sales training. Gail received her BS degree in physics, with an emphasis in optics, from San Diego State University in San Diego, CA in May 1986.