Optimisation of the light transmission and irradiance distribution of an aspherical lens for 3-D time-of-flight sensors

Abstract The irradiance distribution and power transmission in a 3-D sensor, which is based on the principle of time-of-flight (TOF) and uses modulated active illumination, should be optimised because of a large light energy damper and low signal-noise ratio at the receiver detector array. A numerical design of a spherical–aspherical lens with large numerical aperture has been presented to generate a homogeneous irradiance on a measure object from an LED source. Based on the design and analysis of reflection loss, optimisations have been taken to maximise the optical transmittance of the lens. The results show that the total transmittance can be improved by optimising the shape and material of the lens.