Lens Design

Emanuel Istrate

Contents
! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Thin vs. thick lenses Optical design process Aberrations and their corrections Optical materials and coatings Optical fabrication Apertures and pupils Diffraction and resolution Using ready-made lenses

Rays in Thin Lens

Lens Imaging
1 1 1 + = s1 s2 f
s1 ! Need to focus s2

! Happens only for certain distances ! ! Real image can be captured on a screen

Thin Lenses
1 1 1 = + s" f s
#1 1& 1 = ( n " 1)% " ( f $ R1 R2 '

!
!

Lateral magnification Longitudinal magn.

m =m 2
! s" m= s

Thick Lens & Cardinal Points

Effective focal length = f f1 f2

Front focal length

P1

P2

Back focal length

Principal planes

Thick Lenses
! Can have one or multiple elements ! efl =f; bfl, ffl are computed using ray tracing ! For single element (t = thickness)
#1 n " 1) & 1 1 ( = ( n " 1)% " +t ( f nR1R2 ' $ R1 R2

ft ( n " 1) bfl = f " nR1

Ray Tracing
! Calculate ray path through lens ! Apply Snells law at each surface ! Exact
! Can find all aberrations, correct for any lens

! Paraxial approximation
! Rays close to axis and almost parallel ! Assume sin u = u ! Aberrations are ignored

Optical Design Process

! Lay out system assuming thin lenses ! Design each lens (multiple elements replacing each thin lens)
!Thin lens pre-design !Add real thicknesses

Example Focusing Laser Beam

! Only worry about spherical ! Glass plate introduces aberrations ! Use Gaussian wave calculations for beam diameters

Example: Telescope

Zoom Lens

Optical Aberrations
Vs.

Spherical Aberration
R1 R2 t n Sph -3 -2.02 0.5 1.523 5

Reducing Spherical
R1 R2 t n Inf -5.23 0.5 1.523

Sph 0.7

R1 R2 t n

10.4 -10.4 0.5 1.523

Sph 0.2

R1 R2 t n

5.23 Inf. 0.5 1.523

Sph 0.16

R1 R2 t n

2.02 3 0.5 1.523

Sph 2

Lowest Singlet Spherical

R1 R2 t n 5.94 -42.3 0.5 1.523

Sph 0.16

Best Form Lens available from Thorlabs, etc.

Two Lenses

R1 R2 R3 R4 t1 d t2 n Sph

12.1 -79.5 6.4 16.5 0.2 0.1 0.2 1.523 0.03

To minimize spherical: all surfaces should bend the rays by the same amount.

Compensating Spherical

R1 R2 R3 t1 t2 n1 n2 Sph

6.17 -4.00 -15.73 0.4 0.1 1.523 1.617 ~0

Marginal spherical eliminated Zonal spherical of ~0.005 (residual aberration)

Reduce Zonal Spherical

R 5.01 5.67 -9.73 8.15

t 0.45 0.45 0.35 7.51

n 1.517 Air 1.517 Air 1.717 Air

-98.34 0.01 -17.12 0.56

Zonal spherical ~ 0.0005

Chromatic Aberration

R1 5.23 R2 Inf. t n V 0.5 1.522 59.48

K5 glass

nC nD nF

656 nm 588 nm 486 nm

1.520 1.522 1.529

Optical Materials
! All glasses have dispersion n "1 V= ! Abbe V-number: n "n ! Crown glass: low dispersion ! Flint glass: high dispersion ! ! Wavelengths for visible work:
d F C

!Helium d line: 588 nm (yellow) !Hydrogen C line: 656 nm (red) !Hydrogen F line: 486 nm (blue)

Dispersion

R1 5.23 R2 Inf. t n V 0.5 1.522 59.48

K5 glass:

nC nD nF

656 nm 588 nm 486 nm

1.520 1.522 1.529

Correcting Chromatic
! Two glasses with differing dispersions ! Use low dispersion for positive element ! Use high dispersion for neg. element
BaK2: (V=59.7) SF2: (V=33.9)

nC nD nF

656 nm 588 nm 486 nm

1.537 1.540 1.546

nC nD nF

656 nm 588 nm 486 nm

1.642 1.648 1.661

Achromatic Doublet
R1 R2 R3 t1 t2 n1 V1 n2 V2 6.93 -4.09 -13.05 0.7 0.25 1.540 59.7 1.648 33.9

3 degrees of freedom (3 surface curvatures) Compensates both spherical and chromatic aberration

Apochromatic Lenses
! For one zone, 3 wavelengths come to a common focus

R 5.25 -2.57 -2.57 -16.6

t 0.23 0.04 0.15 9.69

n 1.487 Air 1.558 Air

V 84.5 54.2

Aberrations Checkpoint
! Axial
! Spherical ! Chromatic

! Off-axis (oblique)
! Field curvature ! Astigmatism ! Coma ! Distortion ! Lateral Colour

Field Curvature

Petzval Field Curvature

! Curvature = " n

! = lens power = 1/f n = lens index

Astigmatism

Meridional (tangential) and Sagittal rays do not focus at the same position

Side View (tangential rays)

Axial Rays Top View (Sagittal rays)

Reducing Curvature & Astigmatism

! Thick meniscus ! Separated thin elements ! Field flattener ! New achromat (high-index crown + lowindex flint)

Coma
! Magnification varies with position in lens

Moving the Stop

Optimal stop position: no coma, minimum curvature Moving stop affects all oblique aberrations

Thick Meniscus

Distortion

Lateral Colour
! Variation of magnification with coulour

All Aberrations

Cooke Triplet

! 8 degrees of freedom:
! 3 powers ! 3 bendings ! 2 spacings

! 8 primary aberrations
! Focal length, axial chromatic, lateral colour, Petzval, spherical, coma, astigmatism, distortion

Cooke Data

Symmetry Around Stop

! Fully symmetric lens eliminates:
! Coma ! Distortion ! Lateral colour

! Object and image distances must also be equal

! Magnification 1:1 ! If not equal, the 3 aberrations still almost eliminated

Dagor Back Half

Dagor

Lens Symmetry
Vs.

Designing Lenses
! Surface Contribution Formulas
! Equations for each aberration ! Set up a system of n equations in n unknowns
! n is the number of aberrations and of degrees of freedom

! Equations are non-linear, solved iteratively ! Sometimes can solve sequentially

! E.g. Achromatic Doublet

! By computer: partial derivatives matrix

! Will only find local optimum ! Starting design and prior knowledge essential

Plane Glass Plates (windows)

! Overcorrected spherical
!L-l: longitudinal spherical !t: thickness of glass !n: index of glass ! !U: angle of ray (from axis) !Example: t=3 mm, n=1.5, U=30o
! Spherical = 0.05 mm (longitudinal)

t# n cos U & L " l = %1 " ( 2 2 n$ n " sin U '

! Chromatic ! If tilted: astigmatism, coma

Lens Fabrication

Optical coatings
! AR coatings: reduce reflections
!Higher transmittance !Fewer ghost images

Stops, Apertures, Pupils

Aperture stop

Field stop

Lens Speed
! Amount of light entering lens depends on area of lens aperture ! F-number = efl/(diameter of input pupil) ! Numerical aperture = NA = n sin U
U

Lens Resolution
! Limited aperture leads to diffraction

0.61" 0.61" resolution = = n # sin U # NA

When all aberrations are corrected

Modulation Transfer Function

Modulation

max" min = max+ min

MTF =

Mod image Mod object

Example MTF
Canon EF 50mm F/1.8
MTF (%) 10 line pairs/mm F/8 30 line pairs/mm F/8 10 line pairs/mm F/1.8 30 line pairs/mm F/1.8 Solid: sagittal Dashed: meridional

Position (mm)

Commercial Lenses
! Microscope objectives
!Corrected for spherical, chromatic, off-axis aberrations
! Usually we dont need all this, but OK

!High NA, diffraction-limited focusing !Designed for cover slip, unless metallurgical (important if NA > 0.45) !Need specific working distance (conjugate distances) !Careful infinity corrected vs. non-infinity

Achromatic Doublets
! Usually designed to compensate
!Spherical (marginal spherical) !Chromatic (for blue and red)

! Usually designed for infinite object distance ! More curved side towards distant object

Camera Lenses
! Correct most aberrations
!If object distance > 10 x focal length

! Good choice if need

!Wide / flat field !Back focal length of ~ cm !Range of focal lengths (magnifications)