Design of Long-Wave Infrared Scan System with Rotating Dual-Wedge Prism

Due to the possession of advantages of passivity working mode, good disguise, and easy observation, infrared systems are used in a wide variety of applications. This paper using 640×480 uncooled detector designed a long-wave scan optical system with large field and large aperture working at 8.0μm～12μm, the Pixel Dimensions of the detector is 30μm. The F number of this system is 1.4 and focal length is 17mm, FOV is 63.6°, which extended to 143° by adopting dual-wedge prism rotating, the paper also given the extended field theory by the dual-wedge prism. Because there are a limited number of lens materials used in LWIR spectral bands, Germanium material and three aspheric surfaces were adopted to balance sphere aberrations and chromatic aberration. All above mentioned are intending to ensure the system has good imaging quality. The results show that the optical performance approximates to the diffraction limit and the design has better achromatic performance. The modulation transfer function (MTF) is above 0.5 at spatial frequency of 20lp/mm, energy concentration ratio is greater than 70% within the sensing element of the detector and Root Mean Square (RMS) value of spot diameter is smaller than the Pixel Dimensions. The system has advantages of simple structure, large aperture, high image quality etc.