Optical design of first time right imaging systems

Abstract

Today's optical design of imaging systems relies mostly on efficient ray tracing and (local or global) optimization algorithms. Such a traditional 'step-and-repeat' approach to optical design typically requires considerable experience, intuition, and sometimes trial-and-error guesswork. Such a time-consuming design process applies especially, but not only, to freeform optical systems. In particular, the identification of a suitable initial design to then adapt and further optimize has often proven to be a laborious process.We present our developed 'first time right' design method that allows a highly systematic generation and evaluation of directly calculated imaging optics design solutions and thus enables a rigorous, extensive, and real-time evaluation in solution space. The method is based on differential equations derived from Fermat's principle that can be solved effectively by using a power series method. This approach allows calculating all optical surface coefficients that ensure minimal image blurring for each individual order of aberrations. Such directly calculated optical design solutions can be readily used as starting point for further and final optimization. We demonstrate the deterministic and holistic nature of our method and the streamlined design process for various real-world examples ranging from spherical lens designs to freeform imaging systems. The method allows calculating all optical surface coefficients that ensure minimal image blurring for each individual order of aberrations. We demonstrate the systematic, deterministic, scalable, and holistic character of our method for various design examples ranging from spherical lens designs to freeform imaging systems.

Fermat meets PanDao: cost-efficient lens design

“…All four lenses exhibit diffraction-limited performance with excellent color-correction, resulting in optimal image quality for an object space NA of 0.004. In a previous similar evaluation, we did not consider real-world tolerances, instead using generic typical tolerances for visible-wavelength imaging systems [3]. To take this analysis further, we computed and analyzed the predicted Monte Carlo yield of the systems using both commercial-grade and precision-grade surface tolerances provided by Zemax for generic systems.…”

“…We will present several real-world applications in the following sections, where we evaluated the generated designs in conjunction with production information. To achieve this, we utilize a recently developed method called PanDao [2][3][4]. PanDao software models and identifies the optimal manufacturing chain for a given optical design.…”

Realizing ‘First Time Right’ designs of imaging systems using off-the-shelf lenses

“…Building on this idea, we have further developed a stock-based lens generator tool that leverages the capabilities of the automated 'First Time Right' (FTR) design tool 4,9 . This new tool allows users to quickly generate stock-based imaging systems from scratch or from the lens specifications of previously developed custom lens designs.…”

“…However, the laborious task of identifying suitable stock lenses reduces the chances of integrating them into designs that meet additionally imposed specifications and constraints. This paper addresses this challenge by showcasing the impact of the automated "First Time Right" (FTR) design tool 3,4 in rapidly generating and evaluating lens systems using commercially available stock lenses from scratch, and in "stockifying" custom lens designs. This work utilizes a two-stage design strategy for all presented cases.…”

Automatic Method of Exploring the Landscape of Freeform Dioptric Optical Problems, Working in the Infrared Region

“…Nevertheless, the need for relevant and numerous data to correctly train a neural network is a significant bottleneck in optical design, especially in freeform optical design, where data are limited. In direct construction methods of interest, we can single out the SMS method [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19], the point-by-point method [20,21], and differential ray tracing methods [22][23][24][25]. Between these different methods, we decided to use the SMS method as our automated method.…”