Generalized refraction using lenslet arrays

Abstract

We have recently started to investigate 2D arrays of confocal lens pairs. Miniaturization of the lens pairs can make the array behave ray-optically like a homogeneous medium. Here we generalize the geometry of the lens pairs. These generalisations include a sideways shift of the lens centres and a change in the orientation of both lenses in each pair. We investigate the basic ray optics of the resulting arrays, and illustrate these with movies rendered using ray-tracing software. We suggest that confocal lenslet arrays could be used to realize ray-optically some recent metamaterials concepts such as the coordinate-transform design paradigm.