Intermediate Lens Design

Level: Intermediate Length: 7 hours Format: In-Person Lecture Intended Audience: This course is intended for optical engineers and scientists who have some previous knowledge of geometrical optics, aberration theory, and lens design and who want to increase their optical design proficiency through a better understanding of the subject. Description: Have you ever wondered why refractive, reflective, and zoomed optical systems look the way that they do? This course begins with a brief review of paraxial optics, third-order aberration theory, and computer aided optimization. A survey of refractive optical design forms from the landscape lens to the double gauss lens is given. Telephoto and retrofocus lenses, Petzval and microscope objectives, and wide angle lenses are discussed. Zoom lens principles and first order layout are presented in detail with easy to understand examples. Visible band color correction techniques and UV and IR design constraints are discussed. This full day course also examines the basics of reflective optical system design including refractive design analogies, advantages and disadvantages of reflective systems, obscured vs. unobscured design forms. Reflective systems ranging from the Cassegrain to the reflective triplet to three and four mirror anastigmats are presented. Learning Outcomes: This course will enable you to: - determine which lens types are suitable for various applications - describe reflective system designs and constraints - create a new system design from scratch - layout a zoom lens from first principles Instructor(s): Julie Bentley is an Associate Professor at The Institute of Optics, University of Rochester and has been teaching two graduate level courses in optical design for more than 10 years. She received her B.S., M.S., and PhD in Optics from the The Institute of Optics, University of Rochester. After graduating she spent two years at Hughes Aircraft Co. in California designing optical systems for the defense industry and then twelve years at Corning Tropel Corporation in Fairport, New York designing and manufacturing precision optical assemblies such as microlithographic inspection systems. Event: SPIE Optics + Photonics 2015 Course Held: 11 August 2015