Research Information System
Journal of Optics (India), 2024 (ESCI)
Diffractive optical elements are gaining popularity due to their versatility in design, offering a wide range of possibilities by manipulating Fresnel regions. The flexibility in these designs will provide significant advantages for the combined use of electro-optical systems. This study introduces an innovative electro-optical system design approach incorporating a dual-squinted combined refractive/diffractive lens (s2CL) allowing the integration of the imaging infrared system with a laser range finder system into a common aperture design approach. The s2CL enables multiple systems to operate in a multi-spectral detection and imaging manner. The s2CL allows the electro-optical system to function in two modes separately or simultaneously. In the first mode, it operates as a traditional mid wave infrared (MWIR) imager. In the second mode, utilizing the dual squinted design of the lens, the system functions as a laser range finder (LRF). Optical wave simulation results were separately obtained for the LRF and MWIR imager and they were shared in this study. The results of the simulations were compared with the ideal lens and ideal system MTF. Apart from these, semi-passive ranging of this combined electro-optical system is also proposed in this study. In conclusion, the incorporation of a s2CL in an electro-optical system successfully combines two electro-optical systems into a single system. The outcomes of this study significantly advance the development of squinted combined diffractive lenses, allowing for the simultaneous fulfillment of multiple systems or functions within electro-optical systems.