A Compact Top-View Conformal Optical System Based on a Single Rotating Cylindrical Lens with Wide Field of Regard

Abstract

A new compact conformal dome optical system was established, and the aberration characteristics of the dome were investigated using Zernike aberration theory. The aberrations induced by the dome at different fields of regard (FORs) from 30° to 100° were effectively balanced by a rotating cylindrical lens. This kind of optical system can be widely used in top-view optical searching devices. A design method was introduced and the optimization results analyzed in detail. The results showed that the Zernike aberrations produced by the conformal dome were decreased dramatically. Also, a complete conformal optical system was designed, to further illustrate the aberration correction effect of the rotating cylindrical lens. Using a cylindrical lens not only provided a large FOR, but also simplified enormously the structure of the conformal optical system.