Abstract

The results of design effort for infrared zoom systems using all reflective asphere surfaces are described. Issues such as the paraxial design theory and aberration balancing are discussed in detail. Two all-reflective zoom optical systems are disclosed clearly. Both of them are to be used with uncooled infrared detectors. One of the systems comprises a plurality of curved relay mirrors, and the other generates an image on the focal plane without an intermediate image. With the design theory further developed, this kind of systems can be designed for cooled infrared detectors, for which cold stop matching is an important issue.

© 2006 Optical Society of America