Axicons are lenses with a conical surface and a flat surface, used in optometry, physics research, and astronomy. They can transform laser beams into a cone of light and are used in corneal surgery and to test materials for defects.
An axicon is a type of lens with one surface that has a conical shape and another that has a flat surface, or plano. They can be convex, with a protruding cone or concave – a negative axicon. These lenses are also known as rotationally symmetrical prisms due to their properties and the effects on the light passing through them. The body of the lens can be cylindrical in shape or it can be a true cone. Axicons have a number of interesting properties which have led them to be used in various fields of science and industry, including optometry, physics research and astronomy.
Lasers are important tools in science and industry, and axicon lenses have found a niche in the research and development of laser-based devices and applications. An axicon lens has the ability to transform a laser beam passing through it perpendicular to and centered on the flat side, resulting in a perfect cone of laser light, the angle of which is determined by the cone angle of the conical side of the lens. When projected onto a flat surface, the light will be seen as a ring. Moving the viewing surface closer to the lens will reduce the size of the ring, and moving it further away will increase the size of the ring.
In medicine, axicons are sometimes used in laser corneal surgery. In this case two axes are used. One is a normal axicon and the other is a negative axicon. The two axes are used together to focus a laser into a ring that allows the surgeon to shape the cornea to improve vision in some patients.
Physicists have developed a method that uses Axicon lenses and mirrors to create a device that can produce a stream of individual atoms. This device and the atomic streams it produces allow them to capture individual atoms for study, expanding the understanding of atomic particles and particle physics. For this type of device, a highly precise Axicon mirror lens with a tiny hole is used. Axicon lenses can also be used to test materials for structural defects. The ultrasonic waves are aimed at an axicon, which distributes them in such a way that they can be used to detect small defects in industrial parts and components as they pass through the object or material to be tested.
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