Aspheric surfaces have a non-spherical profile. Use of aspheres can reduce the number of optics required to reach a desired optical performance.

Aspheric lenses and molds for the production of aspheric lenses can be manufactured  efficiently and accurately  with single point diamond turning processes. The attainable global shape accuracy can be less than 1µm with surface micro roughness below 5 nm (dependent from size and shape). Casting aspheric surfaces in plastic using injection and injection-compression molding technology is as accurate as casting spherical surfaces. For this reason, the use of aspheres in polymer optics is very common and cost effective.