Project Title:

Index-Matched Optical Cements

  94-1    04.06     6890

 Index-Matched Optical Cements

Abstract:

This program will develop a series of optical cements whose
index of refraction exactly matches the index of the glass
elements being laminated. Such matching is needed because every
time light passes from a medium of one refractive index into a
medium of a different refractive index, some of the light is
reflected. In multi-element optical assemblies, multiple
reflections from the internal interfaces result in multiple ghost
images and significant loss of transmitted light. Cements that
exactly match the glass elements will eliminate such reflections.
Cements have been made with indexes as low as 1.38 and as high
as 1.6, but not with exact pre- specified indexes. This program
will result in cements that exactly match given optical glasses.

The commercial potential of index-matched optical cements is
even greater than the government potential - anywhere complex
optical trains are used, for example: camera and projector
lenses; binoculars; microscopes and other scientific instruments;
and laminated panels such as safety eyewear and safety automobile
windshields.
We regularly manufacture and market such items as optical
cements, fiber optics cladding, light and moisture barriers for
lens assemblies, and anti-reflection coatings. The new cements
will fit right into our product line and will be commercialized
aggressively by direct-mail flyers, advertisements in the trade
literature, and by personal contact. We expect them to be quite
popular.

Key Words

John Brown Associates, Inc.
329 Main Avenue
Stirling, NJ 07980