20120026592 | Multihybrid Artificial Compound Eye with Varied Ommatidia - A wide angle imaging system combines compound array fore-optics with single axis relay optics to generate distortion free images with an infinite depth of field. A curved first array of objective lenslets focuses multiple apertures of light through the tubes of a louver baffle terminated by field stops. An intermediate curved array of field lenslets, positioned immediately after the field stops, passes the light beams through an array of pupil planes. A curved final array of erector lenslets refocuses and adjoins the beams into a contiguous image that is curved. The relay optics transform the curved intermediate image into a flat final image. The fore-optics and relay optics are optimized concurrently to achieve much higher performance than is possible in either compound array optics or sequential optics. This is accomplished by varying the lenslet radii of the fore-optics in annular increments to compensate for aberrations introduced by the relay lenses. | 02-02-2012 |