Abstract

Optical designs for hypersonic vehicles and other hostile environments are discussed, with emphasis placed on the aberrations of alternate design concepts. By using the conceptual framework of the lens design continuum, the aberrations of specific regions of lens design space are explored. First, the lens design continuum is defined as a set of orthogonal coordinate axes. These axes are defined by surface curvatures, thicknesses, and material indices and also by numerical aperture, field of view, and entrance pupil location. Lens systems, defined as lens vectors, are then rotated through lens design space by using well defined lens transformation matrices. By explicitly defining the function and resulting lens quality for a specific lens transformation, they can then be arbitrarily applied to a given lens vector, yielding known results. These transformations allow generalities of the lens design continuum to be explicitly defined. The symmetries and characteristics of the lens design continuum are explored.

© 1992 Optical Society of America