Design, simulation, and testing of a large field of view bionic eyeball optical model with aspheric surfaces

Eyeballs are crucial for humans to obtain external information, functioning similarly to optical imaging systems. However, the existing optical models of eyeballs are often complicated in structure and difficult to fabricate, posing challenges in practical applications. To address this issue, we propose a novel design approach, to the best of our knowledge, for the eyeball model. Based on the imaging function of the eyeball, we divide the designed model into three key components: a front surface for refracting incoming light, an aperture stop, and a back surface for focusing and imaging. These three parts together form an optical lens assembly. Additionally, we incorporated the combination of the Zernike Fringe Sag (ZFS) aspheric surface with a curved imaging surface into the model design, significantly reducing the model volume and various aberrations. This new bionic eyeball model exhibits excellent performance. Within a ±85 deg (170 deg) field of view (FOV), the root mean square (RMS) value remains generally uniform, achieving clear imaging and even surpassing the human eye imaging capabilities. Nevertheless, limited by the high manufacturing cost of aspheric lenses, we fabricated a spherical structure eyeball optical model with a similar structure and tested its various optical performances. The measurement results closely align with the simulation results, with a deviation of less than 7% in the focus position for various incident angles. This validates the design feasibility and provides a reference for the design of the bionic eyeball optical model.