Lens (optics) that are used to correct astigmatism in someone's eye. More complex are aspheric lenses. These are lenses where one or both surfaces have a shape that is neither spherical nor cylindrical. The more complicated shapes allow such lenses to form images with less aberration than standard simple lenses, but they are more difficult and expensive to produce. Lenses are classified by the curvature of the two optical surfaces. A lens is "biconvex" (or "double convex", or just "convex") if both surfaces are convex. If both surfaces have the same radius of curvature, the lens is "equiconvex". A lens with two
Compound refractive lens the order of meters, by using many lenses in series. To minimize the absorption the lens must be made from a material such as aluminium, beryllium, or lithium. CRLs were first demonstrated in the mid-1990s by a group of scientists at the ESRF. They drilled holes in an aluminium block, and achieved focusing in two dimensions. For X-rays a concave lens focuses the X-rays because the index of refraction is slightly below unity. In a CRL of this type the walls between the cylindrical holes act as concave lenses for X-rays traveling perpendicular to the axis of the drilled cylinders.