Review of SMS design methods and real-world applications

The Simultaneous Multiple Surfaces design method (SMS), proprietary technology of Light Prescription Innovators (LPI), was developed in the early 1990's as a two dimensional method. The first embodiments had either linear or rotational symmetry and found applications in photovoltaic concentrators, illumination optics and optical communications. SMS designed devices perform close to the thermodynamic limit and are compact and simple; features that are especially beneficial in applications with today's high brightness LEDs. The method was extended to 3D "free form" geometries in 1999 that perfectly couple two incoming with two outgoing wavefronts. SMS 3D controls the light emitted by an extended light source much better than single free form surface designs, while reaching very high efficiencies. This has enabled the SMS method to be applied to automotive head lamps, one of the toughest lighting tasks in any application, where high efficiency and small size are required. This article will briefly review the characteristics of both the 2D and 3D methods and will present novel optical solutions that have been developed and manufactured to meet real world problems. These include various ultra compact LED collimators, solar concentrators and highly efficient LED low and high beam headlamp designs.