Diffractive approach to design astigmatism-correction intraocular lenses

Astigmatism-correction has gradually become a design hotspot in the field of intraocular lenses (IOLs). We proposed what we believe to be a novel diffractive method to design intraocular lenses with both astigmatism-correction at different distance. First, the principle of the diffractive method to achieve astigmatism-correction is given. Different from traditional diffractive optical elements, the surface distribution of diffractive period under the proposed method is elliptical. Then, in order to verify the effectiveness of the method, we give the example of diffractive astigmatism-correcting IOL. The results show that the method can realize the correction of the astigmatism at different distance. As the beginning of diffractive astigmatism design, the method provides what's believed to be a new and convenient method for the design of diffractive astigmatism intraocular lens instead of using the traditional method of changing different axes curvature radius.