Five-Mirror Afocal Optical System for Wide Field of View
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional afocal optical systems, such as three and four mirror anastigmat designs, are limited in their usable field of view and image quality, with most four mirror designs being excessively large and performance metrics like distortion and pupil aberrations restricting their usefulness to about 5-6 degrees circular field of view.
Innovation Solution
A five mirror afocal optical system with a balanced distribution of three positive-powered and two negative-powered mirrors, arranged to achieve a flat field condition and a collimated output beam, providing a wider field of view exceeding 5 degrees, superior image quality, and a more compact size.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If conventional three mirror anastigmat design is used, then the system achieves high magnification (>10X), but the usable field of view is limited to about 1.0 - 1.5 degrees
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the optical system into five separate mirror elements rather than using three mirrors, allowing each mirror to contribute to both magnification and field of view correction independently. This segmentation enables the system to achieve high magnification while simultaneously expanding the usable field of view to 5-10 degrees.
2Adaptability or versatility
If conventional four mirror anastigmat design is used, then the field of view is improved to about 5 - 6 degrees, but the system becomes excessively large in size
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs dynamic optimization of the five-mirror configuration, where the spacing and positioning of mirrors are carefully adjusted to achieve compact form factor. The system maintains 5-10 degree field of view while reducing overall system volume by optimizing the dynamic arrangement of optical elements rather than using fixed conventional configurations.
3Adaptability or versatility
If conventional four mirror anastigmat design is used, then the field of view is extended, but performance metrics such as image quality, distortion, and pupil aberrations deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality optimization by assigning specific optical power distributions to individual mirrors within the five-element system. Each mirror is designed with tailored surface figures and optical powers to correct specific aberrations in different regions of the field, thereby maintaining superior image quality across the extended 5-10 degree field of view.
Solution Approach 2:
The system achieves improved image quality by carefully controlling and optimizing multiple parameters including mirror spacing, surface curvatures, and optical powers. The five-mirror configuration allows for greater parameter freedom to balance and correct various aberrations while maintaining high image quality across the extended field of view.
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 five mirror afocal optical system achieves a circular field of view of 6-10 degrees, improved image quality, and reduced physical size compared to conventional designs, while maintaining superior performance metrics like field distortion and pupil aberrations.
Implementation Method 1
five mirrors arranged to sequentially reflect from one another electromagnetic radiation received via a system entrance pupil to produce a collimated output beam of the electromagnetic radiation at a system exit pupil
Implementation Method 2
optical powers of the five mirrors are balanced to achieve a flat field condition at the system exit pupil
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3A
AI summary
A five-mirror all-reflective afocal anastigmat. I n one example, a five mirror afocal anastigmat includes five mirrors arranged to sequentially reflect from one another electromagnetic radiation received via a system entrance pupil to produce a collimated output beam of the electromagnetic radiation at a system exit pupil, the five mirrors consisting of three positive-powered mirrors and two negative-powered mirrors, wherein optical powers of the five mirrors are balanced to achieve a flat field condition at the system exit pupil.