We designed a lens system to be used for diagnostics and testing. For this particular application, our client needed a lens system that would create an image that appeared to be at a far-field distance, but they wanted to be able to produce this testing setup in the lab, where space was limited. They had a camera/lens system that they needed to test, and this camera system was designed to look only at distant targets. They needed a complementary optical system that allowed them to test the image resolution of their camera, one that could be set up on a typical lab bench.
The lens we designed to perform these far-field diagnostics is called a ‘target scene simulator’. Such lenses are used for producing distant scenes, without having to take the test setup out into the field, and they can be extremely useful. These target scene simulators are most efficient when they are custom-designed to the camera/lens to be tested.
The lens system shown below was designed specifically for testing our client’s camera/lens system, which is not shown here.
The test target to be used measured 4 inches square, and it was to be illuminated from behind with a uniform light source (so our test lens needed to be telecentric in object space).
The client’s camera/lens system to be tested had a 10mm diameter entrance pupil, and this entrance pupil needed to be located over 40mm away from our diagnostic imaging system.
Our diagnostic system works in the near-infrared (NIR) waveband (1.3 to 1.6 microns wavelength) and produces a near-perfect far-field target with a full field-of-view (FFOV) of 50 degrees. Our lens features all spherical surfaces and is made solely of Schott Preferred glasses, for ease of manufacture and low cost.
SUMMARY
We designed a custom far-field diagnostic imager for testing a particular lens system. Contact us to learn more about how Contrast Optical can solve your optical design problems.