US 2003/0155485 A1Published application

Night-vision device

AssigneeLeica Geosystems AG

InventorDusan Zadravec

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Abstract

The invention relates to an especially monocular night-vision device comprising a lens (11) and lens systems (53, 57, 77) which project the light strengthened by means of a residual light amplifier (33) in a pre-determined wave range, onto a receptor lying on a receiving beam axis (9), such as a human eye (99). Reflective elements (13, 35, 75, 97) bend the beam path of the light through the night-vision device. The reflecting surfaces of at least one pair of the reflective elements (35, 75) are oriented in a coplanar manner. At least one optical component (33, 53, 55, 57, 77) is provided between at least one pair of the four reflective elements (13, 35, 75, 97).

Claims13

Dependent claims

Night-vision device, more particularly monocular, with an object lens (11) focussing residual light issuing from a subject to be observed, onto an input window (32) of a residual-light amplifier (33), with lens systems projecting the residual light that has been amplified by the residual-light amplifier (33) within a given range of wavelengths, onto a receptor, for instance a human eye (99), located on a receptor ray axis (9), and with at least reflecting elements (13, 35, 75, 97) bending the beam path of the light through the night-vision device,

where the first, second, third, and fourth reflective element (13, 35, 75, 97) each have a reflecting surface having a mutual pairwise orientation under an invariable angle,
where the first reflective element (13) directs the incident light coming from the direction of an object lens axis (1) which in general contains the object lens, into the direction of an amplifier axis (3) which in general contains the residual-light amplifier (33), the second reflective element (35) directs the light into the direction of a connecting axis (5) which, where applicable, contains a device socket (55) for a coupling-in or coupling-out device (44, 66), the third reflective element (75) directs the light into the direction of an eyepiece axis (7) which in general contains an eyepiece (77), and the fourth reflective element (97) directs the light into the direction of the receptor axis (9) which, essentially, is parallel to the object lens axis (1),
while the reflecting surfaces of at least one pair of the reflective elements (35, 75) are in coplanar alignment,
while between at least one pair of the four reflective elements (13, 35, 75, 97) at least one of the following optical components is provided:
the object lens (11);
at least one object lens part of an object lens that, where applicable, is made in two parts;
the residual-light amplifier (33);
the eyepiece (77);
at least one eyepiece part (77a) of an eyepiece (77a, 77b) that, where applicable, is made in two parts, or
at least one device socket (55) for a coupling-in or coupling-out device (44, 66);
where a reflecting surface of a reflective element (97) located on the receptor ray axis (9) is essentially reflective for the given range of wavelengths of the residual-light amplifier (33) and, where applicable, to the contrary, is essentially transparent for other ranges of wavelengths,
characterized in that the first reflective element (13) can be rotated about the amplifier axis (3) and the fourth reflective element (97) can be rotated about the eyepiece axis (7), relative to the reflective elements (35, 75) arranged between them, while maintaining the parallelism of the object lens axis (1) and the receptor ray axis (9).

9 more elements

Night-vision device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that in one part of the beam path (56) containing essentially collimated rays, between the residual-light amplifier (33) and the eyepiece (77), and more particularly between the second (35) and third (75) reflective element a device socket (55) is provided for a coupling-in or coupling-out device (44, 66) that can be inserted, more particularly in a modular way, for the coupling in of optical signals and/or for the coupling out of at least one part of the amplified residual light portion into/from this beam path (56).

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

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Abstract

where the first, second, third, and fourth reflective element (13, 35, 75, 97) each have a reflecting surface having a mutual pairwise orientation under an invariable angle,
where the first reflective element (13) directs the incident light coming from the direction of an object lens axis (1) which in general contains the object lens, into the direction of an amplifier axis (3) which in general contains the residual-light amplifier (33), the second reflective element (35) directs the light into the direction of a connecting axis (5) which, where applicable, contains a device socket (55) for a coupling-in or coupling-out device (44, 66), the third reflective element (75) directs the light into the direction of an eyepiece axis (7) which in general contains an eyepiece (77), and the fourth reflective element (97) directs the light into the direction of the receptor axis (9) which, essentially, is parallel to the object lens axis (1),
while the reflecting surfaces of at least one pair of the reflective elements (35, 75) are in coplanar alignment,
while between at least one pair of the four reflective elements (13, 35, 75, 97) at least one of the following optical components is provided:
the object lens (11);
at least one object lens part of an object lens that, where applicable, is made in two parts;
the residual-light amplifier (33);
the eyepiece (77);
at least one eyepiece part (77a) of an eyepiece (77a, 77b) that, where applicable, is made in two parts, or
at least one device socket (55) for a coupling-in or coupling-out device (44, 66);
where a reflecting surface of a reflective element (97) located on the receptor ray axis (9) is essentially reflective for the given range of wavelengths of the residual-light amplifier (33) and, where applicable, to the contrary, is essentially transparent for other ranges of wavelengths,
characterized in that the first reflective element (13) can be rotated about the amplifier axis (3) and the fourth reflective element (97) can be rotated about the eyepiece axis (7), relative to the reflective elements (35, 75) arranged between them, while maintaining the parallelism of the object lens axis (1) and the receptor ray axis (9).

9 more elements