Spherical lens
Optimax Systems

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Spheres, the most common type of optic, have at least one surface that is a segment of a ball. A spherical lens is made with a particular radius of curvature. This radius can be as short as 1mm or very long, to where plano is an infinite radius. Spheres are found in camera lenses, machine vision systems, laser beam shaping, and similar applications.

Specifying Spheres
Specifying a sphere begins with choosing an optical material. Next, the designer selects a diameter, thickness and surface radii. Finally, mechanical and optical attributes are toleranced in accordance with the designer's performance requirements and the manufacturer's capabilities

Reducing the range of a tolerance will add manufacturing cost. The task in selecting tolerances is to minimize cost while ensuring good optical performance. The Cost of Tolerancing gives valuable insight into optimally tolerancing optical components, written in collaboration between an optical engineer, an optics manufacturer and a metrologist.