Ball & Half Ball Lenses - Hyperion Optics

This product is polished spherical lenses made of optical glass fused silica, sapphire, or other optical materials which have a relatively high transmission rate for a diode with an anti-reflection coating. Widely used for coupling light in and out of fibers. It has the advantage of being easy to fabrication and light weight which can be considered the ideal component for optical communication applications.

You will get efficient and thoughtful service from Hongsheng.

Although due to the spherical aberration which leads to lower coupling efficiency, its unique easy-packaging attribute guarantees ball lenses are suitable for series production for optical communication applications with no doubts, especially compared to aspheric lenses.

Ball Lens Specs

Hyperion Optics supplies a broad range of ball lenses to your specifications; we offer in fused silica with excellent UV and IR transmission between 185nm to nm, please refer to its transmission curve for detailed information. Sapphire ball lenses are also available upon custom specifications, in a range of alternative diameters.

BallLensSpecs

COMMERCIAL GRADE

FACTORY STANDARD

PRECISION GRADE

Materials

BK7 or equivalent, Sapphire, Quartz, Fused Silica

Diameter

± 10µm

± 5µm

± 2.5µm

Figure (Sphericity)

5 Lambda(@632.8nm)

3Lambda (@632.8nm）

Want more information on half ball lens? Feel free to contact us.

Related links:
10 Things to Consider When Buying Optical Spherical Lenses For Imaging

1Lambda (@632.8nm）

Focal Length Tolerance (%)

±5%

±3%

±0.2%

Cosmetic(MIL-C-A)

80-50

40-20

10-5

Further, Its capability fits other applications such as endoscopy, bar code scanning, or laser measurement.

Half Ball Lens Specs

For hemispheres half-ball lens, they offer uniform dispersion of light used in LED displays, focusing, and coupling applications. Hyperion Optics provides high refractive index glass and sapphire hemispheres products for little spherical aberration, through UV to IR spectrum.

Parameters of Ball lenses

There are four important parameters to keep in mind when working with ball lenses. These include the diameter of the ball lens (D), the effective focal length (EFL), the back focal length (BFL), and the index of refraction (n). 

The effective focal length is simply the distance between the beam focus and a plane through the center of the lens. It can  be calculated from the  diameter and the index of refraction using this simple equation:

EFL = nD/ 4(n-1)

• Diameter (D): The overall size of the ball lens.
• Index of Refraction (n): A measure of how much light is bent, or refracted, when entering the material of the ball lens.
• Effective Focal Length (EFL): The distance between the beam focus and a plane through the center of the lens

The back focal length, on the other hand, is the distance from the focal point to the lens surface. This is always smaller than the effective focal length by the radius of the ball. 

A fifth important parameter related to the environment rather than the ball itself is the diameter of the input source, (d).  It is important to note that every ball lens will exhibit spherical aberrations, and these may become significant when working with small ball lenses where the diameter of the incident beam is scarcely smaller than the diameter of the ball itself. Because of this, you should not expect to attain your theoretical minimum spot size of focus. If these aberrations are not acceptable aspheric lenses can be used instead of optical glass balls. 

The numerical aperture of a lens depends on the size of the lens (D), the refractive index (n), and the diameter of the source. 

Contact us to discuss your requirements of achromatic cemented lens. Our experienced sales team can help you identify the options that best suit your needs.