Two Mirror Optical System
AssigneeNikon Corporation
InventorDaniel Gene Smith
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A new and useful optical system is provided, which is particularly useful as an optical relay for an aerial imaging system (AIS). The optical system preferably comprises a two element catadioptric lens where a beam transmitted by makes two reflections before leaving the first solid glass (catadioptric) element, then reflects off the second (mirror) element, makes a fourth reflection off the outside surface of the first element and then passes through a hole in the center of the second element. When the optical system is used as an AIS relay, it substantially captures the NA of the projection lens with which it is associated, and simplifies the structure of the AIS relay. In addition, the AIS relay is configured to minimize the affects of stray light.
Claims19
An optical system comprising:
- a. a first element having a transparent solid body with plano-convex shape, and
- b. a second element having a concave mirror surface;
- c. the first element having an internal plano reflecting surface, an internal concave reflecting surface and a convex surface comprising a convex mirror surface, and
- d. wherein the optical system is configured such that radiation passes through the first element, is reflected by the internal concave surface of the first element, reflected by the internal plano surface of the first element, reflected by the concave mirror surface of the second element, and reflected by the convex mirror surface of the first element.
An AIS relay for a projection optics imaging system with a projection lens that projects an image, the AIS relay configured with a numerical aperture (NA) that substantially captures the full NA of the projection lens with which it is associated.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.