MOLDING DIE AND MOLDING METHOD

摘要

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a molding die and a molding method for optical elements capable of molding highly accurate optical elements with positional deviation of optical surfaces suppressed while easily preventing damage of the die.SOLUTION: A support member 20 comes into contact with a lateral face LPs of a lens LP to support the lens LP while the lens LP is released, the lens LP being an optical element remaining in a movable die 42 after a fixed die 41 and the movable die 42 are opened. This enables continuous molding with the positional relationship between the fixed and movable dies being maintained as optical surfaces of the dies. In addition, the support member 20 contacting the lateral face LPs of the lens LP can maintain the shape of the lens LP at a highest possible precision to the extent of the lateral face LPs.