An optical assembly includes at least one substrate that provides a first curved surface and a second surface. The optical assembly also includes a beam splitter on the first curved surface, a reflector on the second surface, and an optical retarder disposed between the beam splitter and the reflector. The optical assembly is configured to receive first light at the first curved surface and reflect the first light at the reflector and subsequently, at the beam splitter before outputting the first light from the reflector. The first light is transmitted through the optical assembly at a first optical power. The optical assembly is also configured to transmit second light at a second optical power that is less than the first optical power. The second light is transmitted through peripheral portions of the beam splitter and reflector without reflection at the reflector.

An optical system for displaying an image to a viewer includes a partial reflector, a reflective polarizer, and a first retarder layer. A light ray propagates along the optical axis and passes through the plurality of optical lenses, the partial reflector, the reflective polarizer, and the first retarder layer without being substantially refracted. For a cone of light incident on the optical system from an object comprising a spatial frequency of about 70, 60, 50, 40, or 30 line pairs per millimeter and filling the exit pupil with a chief ray of the cone of light passing through a center of the opening of the exit pupil of the optical system and making an angle of about 20 degrees with the optical axis, a modulation transfer function of the optical system is greater than about 0.2.

A method of fabricating an optical assembly includes providing a first mold having a first curved mold surface; placing a substantially flat reflective polarizer; on the first curved mold surface and applying at least one of pressure and heat to at least partially conform the reflective polarizer to the first curved mold surface; providing a second mold comprising a second mold surface, the first and second mold surfaces defining a mold cavity therebetween; substantially filling the mold cavity with a flowable material having a temperature greater than a glass transition temperature of the reflective polarizer; and solidifying the flowable material to form a solid optical element bonded to the reflective polarizer. A maximum variation of an orientation of a pass polarization state across the bonded reflective polarizer is within about 3 degrees of a maximum variation of the orientation of the pass polarization state across the substantially flat reflective polarizer.

An optical system for displaying an image to a viewer includes a partial reflector, a reflective polarizer, and a first retarder layer. A light ray propagates along the optical axis and passes through the plurality of optical lenses, the partial reflector, the reflective polarizer, and the first retarder layer without being substantially refracted. For a cone of light incident on the optical system from an object comprising a spatial frequency of about 70, 60, 50, 40, or 30 line pairs per millimeter and filling the exit pupil with a chief ray of the cone of light passing through a center of the opening of the exit pupil of the optical system and making an angle of about 20 degrees with the optical axis, a modulation transfer function of the optical system is greater than about 0.2.

Light emitting systems and optical systems including a light emitting system and a lens system are described. The light emitting system includes a pixelated light source having a plurality of discrete spaced apart pixels, and includes a plurality of light redirecting elements, each light redirecting element corresponding to a different pixel in the plurality of pixels. The light redirecting elements may be adapted to alter one or both of a central ray direction and a divergence angle of light received from the corresponding pixel. A lens system disposed to receive light from the light emitting system may include a reflective polarizer and a partial reflector.

In embodiments, a uniaxial optical multi-measurement sensor comprises a sensor housing having a center axis and a cylindrical surface and an array of electrically coupled light-sensitive pixel elements attached to the cylindrical surface. Each pixel element is positioned having its light-sensitive side facing towards the center axis. In this embodiment, a conical light redistribution optic is positioned along the center axis to direct or reimage uncollimated light entering the sensor housing onto the pixel elements. Also, in this embodiment, the pixel elements are positioned relative to the light redistribution optic to measure or image two or more properties of the uncollimated light entering the sensor housing of a single scene and from a single viewpoint.

The disclosure refers to the anti-blur infrared lens for the panoramic camera system, also known as Infrared Search and Track (IRST), using a 1280×1024 resolution sensor with a working F-number of 2. The lens operates in the mid-infrared wavelength range of 3-5 μm, using a fast steering mirror (FSM) and a pair of lenses with extended polynomial surfaces to prevent image blur during integration time. The optical image captured by the lens always maintains sharpness during the change of rotation angle of the device by changing the angular position of FSM. The lens is capable of observing with wide angle-of-view and large rotation angle compensation ability, ensuring long detection distance.

Optical systems for displaying an image are described. The optical systems include spaced apart first and second optical lenses. A partial reflector is disposed on and conforms to a major surface of the first optical lens where the major surface can have a best-fit spherical radius of curvature in a range from 20 mm to 200 mm. A reflective polarizer is disposed on and conforms to a major surface of the second optical lens where the major surface can have a best-fit spherical radius of curvature in a range from 14 mm to 250 mm. A retarder layer is disposed between the reflective polarizer and the partial reflector. The first optical lens can have an optical birefringence of less than 15 nm/cm and the second optical lens can have an optical birefringence of greater than 15 nm/cm. A method of fabricating an optical assembly is described.

A catadioptric projection objective has a first objective part, defining a first part of the optical axis and imaging an object field to form a first real intermediate image. It also has a second, catadioptric objective part forming a second real intermediate image using the radiation from the first objective part. The second objective part has a concave mirror and defines a second part of the optical axis. A third objective part images the second real intermediate image into the image plane and defines a third part of the optical axis. Folding mirrors deflect the radiation from the object plane towards the concave mirror; and deflect the radiation from the concave mirror towards the image plane. The first part of the optical axis defined by the first objective part is laterally offset from and aligned parallel with the third part of the optical axis.

A projection objective configured to image an object field in an object plane into an image field in an image field plane includes a reflective unit, a first refractive unit, and a second refractive unit. An optical axis of the first refractive unit is parallel to but displaced from an optical axis of the second refractive unit. The reflective unit includes a first curved mirror and a second curved mirror. The second curved mirror is immediately downstream from the first curved mirror in a path of light from the object plane to the image plane. The projection objective is a microlithography projection objective.