Freeform gradient index progressive addition lens raytrace performance evaluation

Raytrace evaluation capable of evaluating progressive addition lens (PAL) designs with freeform surface and gradient index (GRIN) contributions is presented. The method is validated on an analytically generated PAL start design and on optimized surface designs. Surface raytrace evaluations are compared with the surface-geometric evaluation commonly presented for freeform surface PAL designs. The evaluation is also tested on analytically generated freeform GRIN PAL designs with spherical and piano surfaces. The raytrace method agrees with the analytic performance and surface-geometric performance near the center of the lens and deviates at the edge of the lens, due to ray obliquity with the surfaces and aggregate contributions of surfaces and/or GRIN. These deviations are expected, as the raytrace model accounts for more physical contributions to optical performance, including pupil diameter and eye position. This raytrace method enables the evaluation of lens performance contributions other than from polished surfaces on homogeneous materials, enabling further exploration of GRIN in PAL designs. (C) 2021 Optical Society of America