Today’s battlefield is evolving at light speed. Our war fighters are being tasked with highly complex missions requiring the very best technology our industry can offer. The demand for advanced ISR platforms is challenging designers and engineers in the optics industry to push the envelope and develop wider band solutions to support multiple and broadband sensor platforms. Recently, significant attention has been directed towards the development of optical systems that enable simultaneous operation in the visible and shortwave infrared spectral wavebands.
This paper will present a review of the evolution of StingRay Optics’ GhostSight™ continuous zoom optics that offer broad chromatic imaging capabilities from the visible through the shortwave infrared spectrum.
There are many applications for zoom systems which operate through a range of working distances while at the same time allowing multiple zoom levels or a smoothly varying magnification range. The problems involved in creating a system to support such applications are greater than either a fixed focal length system or a zoom system operating with an image at infinity. In this paper we will explore some of the optical and mechanical issues involved in such efforts, the tradeoffs between high optical performance and simple mechanical designs, and provide some of the solutions we’ve developed to address these issues.
Many design approaches to the color correction of infrared optics have evolved from theories based on first-order linear equations. When faced with broad spectral design, however, such technologies can fall short. The use of linear approximations for certain material properties has limited the development of well-corrected lenses when faced with higher order color and aberration correction. In this paper we will discuss broad spectral multi-band imaging with specific emphasis on a fast catadioptric wide-angle system design, highlighting its advantages and disadvantages. The result of this work will illustrate an improved solution yielding a compact well-corrected lens adapted for use in the broadband spectrum.
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