Multi-channel beamsplitter with wavefront compensators
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Solution Overview
Problem
Multiband imaging systems face challenges in achieving high optical performance due to aberrations introduced by dispersive materials and non-collimated light, particularly in designing beamsplitter systems that operate over wide spectral bands and require correction for spherical and symmetrical aberrations.
Innovation Solution
A multichannel beamsplitter system using cube beamsplitters with integrated wavefront compensators having curved surfaces to match the curvature of incoming and exiting light wavefronts, constructed from materials like zinc sulfide that are transmissive across visible and infrared bands, effectively compensating for aberrations and maintaining high optical performance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If a plane parallel plate (PPP) is used to split bands, then the beamsplitter can be manufactured easily and is lightweight, but significant non-symmetric aberrations are introduced
Solution Approach 1:
An integrating wavefront compensator is introduced as an intermediary component between the PPP beamsplitter and the image sensor. This compensator mediates the optical path by receiving the non-collimated light containing aberrations from the PPP and transforming it into a form suitable for high-resolution imaging, thereby resolving the contradiction between easy manufacture and optical precision
Solution Approach 2:
The wavefront compensator changes the parameters of the light wavefront by transforming non-collimated light into collimated light. This parameter transformation allows the system to achieve diffraction-limited performance despite using the simple PPP beamsplitter structure
2Manufacturing precision
If a cube beamsplitter is used to avoid PPP aberrations, then spherical aberration is added, but aspheric lenses or surfaces would be needed to remove it
Solution Approach 1:
The integrating wavefront compensator serves as a mediator that handles the spherical aberration introduced by the cube beamsplitter. Instead of using complex aspheric lenses or surfaces, the compensator transforms the aberrated wavefront into a corrected form, simplifying the overall optical design while maintaining high precision
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical/optical solution of using aspheric lenses or surfaces with an integrating wavefront compensator that processes the light wavefront. This substitution achieves aberration correction through wavefront transformation rather than through complex mechanical optical element geometry
3Volume of moving object
If the beam is non-collimated when entering the beamsplitter, then the system is more compact, but diffraction limits and aberrations increase
Solution Approach 1:
The integrating wavefront compensator acts as an intermediary that receives non-collimated light from a compact optical path and transforms it into collimated light suitable for diffraction-limited imaging. This allows the system to maintain a compact form factor while achieving high imaging resolution
Solution Approach 2:
The wavefront compensator performs preliminary action by pre-processing the non-collimated light wavefront before it reaches the imaging sensor. This preliminary wavefront transformation ensures that subsequent imaging operations can achieve diffraction-limited performance even with a compact, non-collimated input beam
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The system achieves high optical performance, approaching diffraction-limited imaging despite non-collimated light and dispersive material, by using wavefront compensators to correct aberrations, thereby enhancing the resolution and accuracy of multiband imaging.
Implementation Method 1
integrated wavefront compensators having curved surfaces to match the curvature of the wavefronts of the incoming light and/or the exiting light
Implementation Method 2
A diffraction limited optical system is one that operates at its theoretical limit
Implementation Method 3
The plate can be a pellicle mirror or coated with a dichroic coating that is transmissive to one band but reflective to the other
Implementation Method 4
different dichroic coatings can then be used in the beamsplitter system to peel-off each of the bands
Data Source
AI summary
A multi channel beamsplitter system operating over a wide spectral band has high optical performance despite the fact that the incoming and/or exiting light is not collimated and its material is dispersive. This is achieved using wavefront compensators that are matched to the curvature of the wavefronts of the incoming and/or exiting light.