An optical design pattern/method was invented to control the total cost including the material and the manufacturing of IR imaging lenses. This optical design pattern/method comprises a molded lens and an aberration correction lens. This design pattern/method leads to cost-effective IR imaging lenses because the unit cost of the molded lens is low for a volume production and the unit cost of the aberration correction lens is low for its very small manufacturing. This optical design pattern/method comprises any imaging and spectral applications for any partial band of 1 to 14 micron, such as (but not limited to) SWIR, MWIR, and LWIR.

A display device of the present disclosure includes, along an optical path of imaging light emitted from an imaging light generation device, a first optical portion having a positive power, a second optical portion including a first diffraction element and having a positive power, a third optical portion having a positive power, and a fourth optical portion including a second diffraction element and having a positive power. In the optical path, the first diffraction element and the second diffraction element diffract the imaging light at least along a primary diffraction plane and a secondary diffraction plane orthogonal to the primary diffraction plane, and a deflection force of the imaging light in the primary diffraction plane is greater than a deflection force of the imaging light in the secondary diffraction plane.

The eyeball-projection display apparatus 1 includes an image display device 5 for showing an image, and a virtual image projection optical system 10 in which an image shown by the image display device is optically guided into the eyeball of a viewer for projection of a virtual image, wherein the virtual image projection optical system 10 includes an eyepiece optical system 2 having an eyepiece optical element 20 including an eyepiece transmitting surface 21 and an eyepiece reflecting surface 22 for reflecting off a light ray incident from the eyepiece transmitting surface 21 and again guiding the light ray back into the same eyepiece transmitting surface 21, having a medium filled in between the eyepiece transmitting surface 21 and the eyepiece reflecting surface 22, the medium having a refractive index of greater than 1, and further including a back-surface reflecting mirror capable of only one reflection in an effective optical path and having a positive power; a relay optical system 4 having a positive power, and including a prism optical element 40 having a curved, internal-reflecting surface that is decentered with respect to a center chief ray Lc, being filled in with a medium having a refractive index of greater than 1 and being capable of plural internal reflections, and receiving light from the image display device 5 for projection of an intermediate image of an image onto an exit side of the display apparatus 1; and a reflecting element 3 that is positioned in an optical path between the eyepiece optical system 2 and the relay optical system 4 and includes an intermediate reflecting surface 30 to reflect a light beam incident obliquely from a side of the display apparatus, on which the relay optical system 4 is located, toward a side of the display apparatus 1, on which the eyepiece optical system 2 is located, thereby deflecting an optical path.

An example imaging system includes a compound lens. The compound lens may include a series of lens elements. Each of the lens elements has an aspheric surface on each opposite face. The last lens element of the series has a diffractive optic on a face. The compound lens 5 is to image an object in an object plane onto an image sensor at a resolution of at least 150 line pair/mm at a minimum modulation of 0.39 as applied to the object plane across a visible spectrum comprising red, blue and green wavelengths.

A waveguide is provided including first and second diffraction gratings and a phase-matching region conterminous with the first and second diffraction gratings and disposed in an optical path between the gratings. For an optical beam propagating along the optical path, the first grating adds a first phase shift to the optical beam reflecting from the first grating, the second grating adds a second phase shift to the optical beam reflecting from the second grating, and the phase-matching region adds a matching phase shift to the optical beam reflecting from the phase-matching region. The matching phase shift is between minimum and maximum values of the first and second phase shifts.

An image display device includes an image light generation unit configured to generate image light, a projection system optical unit configured to project the image light, a correction system optical unit configured to correct aberrations, a first diffraction element configured to deflect the image light incident on a first incident surface, and a second diffraction element configured to deflect the image light incident on a second incident surface. The projection system optical unit, the second diffraction element, the correction system optical unit, and the first diffraction element are arranged in this order in a direction of the image light emitted from the image light generation unit, and the image light deflected and dispersed into rays of respective wavelengths by the second diffraction element is focused by the first diffraction element.

Methods, systems and devices for diffractive waveplate lens and mirror systems allowing electronically focusing light at different focal planes. The system can be incorporated into a variety of optical schemes for providing electrical control of transmission. In another embodiment, the system comprises diffractive waveplates of different functionality to provide a system for controlling not only focusing but other propagation properties of light including direction, phase profile, and intensity distribution.

Methods, systems and devices for diffractive waveplate lens and mirror systems allowing electronically focusing light at different focal planes. The system can be incorporated into a variety of optical schemes for providing electrical control of transmission. In another embodiment, the system comprises diffractive waveplates of different functionality to provide a system for controlling not only focusing but other propagation properties of light including direction, phase profile, and intensity distribution.

[Problem to be Solved]

There are provided an optical system having good imaging performance, an optical apparatus, and a method for manufacturing the optical system.

[Solution]

An optical system OL used in an optical apparatus, such as a camera 1, includes a diffractive optical element GD and at least one specific lens Lp, which is a lens made of crystalline glass. The specific lens Lp satisfies the condition expressed by the following expression: gFp+0.0017dp<0.730, where gFp represents partial dispersion ratio of a medium of the specific lens Lp, and dp represents the Abbe number of the medium of the specific lens Lp at a d line.

A near eye display includes a main freeform prism lens and a micro-display corrector lens, where the main freeform prism lens includes a first freeform surface, a second freeform surface, and a third freeform surface, the first freeform surface refracting a light from a micro-display into a body of the main freeform prism lens, and the main freeform prism lens having an exit pupil diameter greater than 12 millimeter (mm), and a lateral color aberration of less than 4 micrometer (um)) across a diagonal field of view (FOV), where the micro-display corrector lens is positioned between the main freeform prism lens and the micro-display, the micro-display corrector lens including a first corrector lens surface and a second corrector lens surface, and each surface of the main freeform prism lens and the micro-display corrector lens comprises a surface sag.