Collimated intensified vision system and method of collimating

An optical system comprising:

• an optical frame including:
• an input portion having an objective lens assembly holder;
• and
• an output portion having an eyepiece lens assembly holder;
• an objective lens assembly disposed within the objective lens assembly holder, the objective lens assembly having an objective lens assembly axis;
• an eyepiece lens assembly disposed within the eyepiece lens assembly holder, the eyepiece lens assembly having an eyepiece lens assembly axis parallel to the objective lens assembly axis and spaced from the objective lens assembly axis by a distance;
• and
• an inverting image intensifier disposed between the objective lens assembly and the eyepiece lens assembly, the inverting image intensifier being coupled to the frame proximate to the objective lens assembly and having an inverting image intensifier axis disposed about half the distance between the objective lens assembly axis and the eyepiece lens assembly axis.

A method of manufacturing a collimated optical device comprising the steps of:

• a) providing an optical assembly frame having an input portion and an output portion;
• b) providing an objective lens assembly having an objective lens central optical axis;
• c) fixedly coupling the objective lens assembly to the input portion of the optical assembly frame;
• d) providing an eyepiece lens assembly having an eyepiece lens central optical axis parallel to the objective lens central optical axis and offset from the objective lens central optical axis by a distance;
• e) fixedly coupling the eyepiece lens assembly to the output portion of the optical assembly frame;
• f) inserting an image intensifier between the objective lens assembly and the eyepiece lens assembly, the image intensifier having an image intensifier optical axis parallel to the objective lens central optical axis and the eyepiece lens central optical axis;
• g) aligning the image intensifier optical axis to be offset from both the objective lens central optical axis and the eyepiece lens central optical axis by about half the distance;
• and
• h) securing the image intensifier to the optical assembly frame.