Automatic initial configuration in off-axis reflective optical system design using combined nodal and Seidel...

Area of Science:

• Optical Engineering
• Computational Optics

Background:

• Designing off-axis reflective optical systems traditionally relies on coaxial initial systems, making initial configuration selection critical for performance.
• Achieving optimal imaging quality in off-axis systems is challenging due to the complexity of initial design parameters.

Purpose of the Study:

• To establish an imaging-performance evaluation function for off-axis initial configurations.
• To propose an automatic optimization method for off-axis initial configurations using a global simulated annealing algorithm.
• To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method through design examples.

Main Methods:

• Developed an imaging-performance evaluation function integrating nodal aberration and Seidel aberration theories.
• Implemented a global simulated annealing algorithm for automatic optimization of initial configurations.
• Applied the method to design off-axis three-mirror reflective optical systems.

Main Results:

• Successfully designed off-axis optical systems with large fields of view (FOV), such as 10°×3° and 20°×3°.
• Achieved perfect and good imaging quality in the designed optical systems.
• Demonstrated the effectiveness and simplicity of the automated initial configuration design method.

Conclusions:

• The proposed method provides an effective and simple approach for designing off-axis reflective optical systems.
• The automated initial configuration design significantly simplifies the process and improves imaging performance.
• The designed systems offer valuable references for future optical system development.