Not spherical; relating to or describing a lens or optical surface that is not perfectly round or spherical in shape.
Composed of 'a-' (not, without) + 'spheric' (relating to a sphere), from Greek 'sphaira' (sphere). The prefix 'a-' is a Greek negative prefix, and '-ic' forms an adjective meaning 'relating to or having the quality of.'
Aspheric lenses are a revolution in optics—by deliberately making lenses non-spherical, engineers can reduce optical distortion and create thinner glasses and camera lenses. It seems backwards, but breaking symmetry actually fixes problems that perfect symmetry caused!
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