Optical Engineering
Simply put, a lens is most often clear glass that has been curved to reflect the light and alter the way we see the world. For example, a pair of glasses or contact lenses are typically shaped to aid our ability to direct the light rays and give us clear vision. However, there are many more types of lens that are used to alter the effects of the light in a given way, and the term, 'lens' is a general one that has many uses.
A lens is designed with many different surface types that affect the parameters that have to be set depending on the type of study that is to be undertaken. Often, the type of surface, the thickness of the lens, the curvature and the tilt of the item all have an effect on how the light is seen through the object. An optical system designer must take all these factors into account when creating a specific lens with the given parameters of that particular study. It is stil defined as a science due to the waves of light that have to be correctly calculated to ensure that the lens works in the correct way. Only one set requirement should be variable at any given time, as free roaming lenses are too multi-dimensional for our technologies at this stage.
That is not to say that the optical system is constrained to prevent change. For example, many products that use lenses are manufactured from lens elements, which is generally many different size lenses that make up the full lens. This is so that the functions that are part of that product are able to function in the ways in which they are designed to the maximum capacity, and the light can be bended or absorbed to the constraints of the product. This is typical in terms of a camera lens that offers the options to zoom in and capture the light from different angles. Other products that use multiple lenses are video projectors, laser optical readers, telescopes and surgery endoscopes.
These combinations of lens elements include many different components depending on the light sources. Using different light sources such as light bulbs, LEDs, or natural light sources, have a different effect on the way the light is detected and captured. This also alters depending on the object that is meant to collect the information, such as microfilm or the human eye. All these considerations have to be taken into account when designing a lens, and the cost of the materials is a large part of this, especially in cases of infrared and ultraviolet capabilities, as specialist materials need to be used.
With the technology of today, lens design has moved away from simple viewing glasses, and has become far more complex in the variables that are now calculated, and on a much larger scale. The most simple of lenses can be 9-dimensional, and is to be used over a larger field of view compared to the human eye. Due to the increasingly quick calculation rates of light rays and the direction they travel, lenses may become able to capture the light at the same speed at which it travels.