ZnSe-material phase mask applied to athermalization of infrared imaging systems

This paper reports a ZnSe-material phase mask that is applied to athermalization of a conventional infrared imaging system. Its principle, design, manufacture, measurement, and performance validation are successively discussed. This paper concludes that a ZnSe-material phase mask has a permissible manufacturing error 2.14 times as large as a Ge-material phase mask. By constructing and solving an optimization problem, the ZnSe-material phase mask is optimally designed. The optimal phase mask is manufactured and measured with a form manufacturing error of 1.370 μm and a surface roughness value of 9.926 nm. Experiments prove that the wavefront coding athermalized longwave infrared (LWIR) imaging system works well over the temperature range from -40°C to +60°C.