Design of infrared optical system with special dome

An efficient approach of designing a special dome and its aberration corrector was presented. By using the method of Wassermann-Wolf differential equations, the optimum contour of the corrector was obtained through a macro program in commercial optical design software. This corrector reduces spherical aberration and coma which are introduced by the dome, thus it improves the imaging quality of the system. Actual program design of a special dome applying to infrared system was made based on the Wassermann-Wolf algorithm. It works in the spectrum of middle infrared with a field of view more than 3.5° and an F number of 1-2.5. A complex R-C form was adopted to make the final imaging quality meet the diffraction limit. The whole system satisfies the imaging requirements in the infrared wave band, and it has a high practical value.