LightPath Technologies : Expands Capabilities With Freeform Optics Solutions to Tap into AR and VR Markets

ORLANDO, FL / ACCESSWIRE / October 18, 2021 / LightPath Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:LPTH) ("LightPath," the "Company," or "we"), a leading vertically integrated global manufacturer and integrator of proprietary optical and infrared components and high-level assemblies, today announced the addition of freeform optics to its portfolio of high performance, next-generation custom molded optical solutions. Freeform optics involve lenses with surface shapes that lack certain symmetrical attributes which make them more challenging to mass produce but provide improved aperture, field of view and miniaturization.

By utilizing LightPath's proprietary molding technology, LightPath can mass produce molded freeform optics, rather than fabricating optical elements individually, as it is done today. High precision optical elements with freeform surfaces can offer the optimal solution in many high-performance optical applications by allowing more complex surface profiles that can provide beam shaping. Through the deployment of freeform optics, many optical systems can be miniaturized, and the number of elements reduced, resulting in optical systems that are smaller, lighter weight, and yield better performance than ever before.

Freeform optics are becoming a key element in applications such as augmented and virtual reality (AR and VR), infrared and military optical systems and 3-D imaging and visualization. Many times, these systems require the higher performance and more compact form factor that freeform optics can provide, allowing increased flexibility and overall size, weight and power (SWaP) optimization. The adoption of freeform optics in such applications has been limited due to the manufacturing technology that, to date, could not be scaled economically. This is a problem that has now been solved by LightPath's leading expertise in molded optics. Using its proprietary molding technology, LightPath has shipped tens of millions of field devices over the last 25 years for many other lens and lens assembly product families.

"We are pleased to introduce freeform optics to our customers worldwide," stated Rob Myers, Product Manager at LightPath. "We believe freeform optics will play a major role in many emerging application areas, including the miniaturization of future AR/VR glasses. Developing our molded freeform optics technology required making advances in several key areas, such as mold fabrication, compression molding of non-rotationally symmetric optics, and in metrology to test the new lenses using computer generated holograms (CGH). With one of the world's largest and most accomplished team of engineers under one roof, we are very excited to be able to uniquely address some very exciting market opportunities with our new optical solutions."

For the last 35 years, LightPath Technologies has been producing high-quality optics and assemblies for customers worldwide. LightPath operations in the US and globally offer customers the flexibility and scalability to process small volume lots up to high-production volumes and the ability to tailor unique solutions to serve the most demanding specifications and application requirements.

Company Contacts:

Mark Palvino, VP of Global Sales
LightPath Technologies, Inc.
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Rob Myers, Product Manager
LightPath Technologies, Inc.
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Investor Contact:
Jordan Darrow
Darrow Associates
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