• Three mirror anastigmat focusing question

    From bob prohaska@21:1/5 to All on Sun Jan 23 21:05:18 2022
    Can a three mirror anastigmat be used in the near-field?
    The problems of generating the shapes required for the
    mirrors are understood to be difficult to solve. Putting
    that aside for the moment, the next obvious question seems
    to be focusing, thinking about supertelephoto-type applications.

    Is it enough to move the optic with respect to the focal plane,
    or must one also move the elements (or worse yet, re-shape
    them) relative to one another to maintain minimal aberration?

    The idea of a compact, lightweight uv-vis-ir imager seems appealing.
    With the advent of advanced molding for optical elements it does not
    seem absurd to imagine at least a few applications, provided they can
    be focused at less than infinity.

    Thanks for reading, and any hints or references (I've looked and found
    nothing understandable on-line).

    bob prohaska

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