Reflective-Refractive Imaging System for Wide-Angle Aberration Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing imaging optical systems face challenges in achieving a wide angle, reduced aberration variation during focusing, and high optical performance while maintaining a compact size, particularly in projection type display devices and imaging apparatuses.
Innovation Solution
An imaging optical system comprising a reflective and refractive optical system with specific configurations, including multiple lenses and reflecting surfaces, allows for intermediate image formation twice on the optical path, and employs focusing groups that move during focusing while fixing other components, adhering to specific conditional expressions to optimize aberration correction and size reduction.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a reflective optical system with multiple reflecting surfaces is used, then aberration correction is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The optical system is divided into distinct functional segments: a reflective optical system with three reflecting surfaces (first, second, and third reflecting surfaces) for aberration correction, and a refractive optical system with multiple lenses for additional optical control. This segmentation allows each subsystem to be optimized independently while working together to achieve superior aberration correction.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent combines a reflective optical system and a refractive optical system into a hybrid imaging optical system. The reflective system handles primary aberration correction through its three reflecting surfaces, while the refractive system with multiple lenses provides additional correction and control, merging the advantages of both reflective and refractive approaches to achieve high optical performance.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the imaging optical system is designed for wide angle, then field of view is improved, but aberration variation during focusing increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs dynamic focusing mechanisms where focusing groups (first focusing group and second focusing group) can move along the optical axis to adjust focus from long range to short range. This dynamic adjustment allows the system to maintain optimal optical performance across different focusing distances while preserving wide angle capability, actively compensating for aberration variations during focusing.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes optical parameters dynamically during focusing operations. By adjusting the positions of focusing groups and modifying the optical path length through the reflective and refractive components, the system maintains consistent aberration correction across different focal distances, enabling wide angle operation without significant aberration variation.
3Reliability
If the imaging optical system achieves high optical performance, then image quality is improved, but system size increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces portions of the traditional refractive optical system with a reflective optical system. The three reflecting surfaces (first, second, and third reflecting surfaces) provide aberration correction through reflection rather than refraction, reducing the number of lenses required and thereby reducing the overall system size while maintaining or improving optical performance.
Solution Approach 2:
The optical system utilizes a folded optical path configuration where light passes through the reflective surfaces at angles, effectively using spatial dimensionality to achieve long optical path length within a compact physical footprint. This allows high optical performance with reduced system volume.
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 a wide angle with reduced aberration variation and high optical performance, enabling a compact design suitable for projection type display devices and imaging apparatuses.
Implementation Method 1
a reflective optical system including a first reflecting surface having a positive power, a second reflecting surface having a power, and a third reflecting surface having a positive power along the optical path
Implementation Method 2
a refractive optical system including a plurality of lenses along an optical path
Data Source
AI summary
An imaging optical system including a reflective optical system and a refractive optical system including plural lenses along an optical path in order from an enlargement side to a reduction side, wherein: the reflective optical system includes a first reflecting surface having a positive power, a second reflecting surface having a power, and a third reflecting surface having a positive power along the optical path in order from the enlargement side to the reduction side, an intermediate image conjugate to an image on a reduction-side imaging plane is formed twice on the optical path between the refractive optical system and an enlargement-side imaging plane, the intermediate image is re-formed on the enlargement-side imaging plane, the imaging optical system further includes a focusing group, and the first, second, and the third reflecting surface are fixed to the reduction-side imaging plane during focusing.