Athermal and Achromatic Design for a Night Vision Camera Using Tolerable Housing Boundary on an Expanded Athermal Glass Map

Abstract

We propose a new graphical method for selecting a pair of optical and housing materials to simultaneously athermalize and achromatize an LWIR optical system. To have a much better opportunity to select the IR glasses and housing materials, an athermal glass map is expanded by introducing the DOE with negative chromatic power. Additionally, from the depth of focus in an LWIR optical system, the tolerable housing boundary is provided to realize an athermal and achromatic system even for not readily available housing material. Thus, we can effectively determine a pair of optical and housing materials by reducing the thermal shift to be less than the depth of focus. By applying this method to design a night vision camera lens, the chromatic and thermal defocuses are reduced to less than the depth of focus, over the specified waveband and temperature ranges.