Optical system having diverting means

Claim 2

An optical system, comprising in combination, a first and a second optical area, an optical axis intersecting said areas, a concave reflecting surface transferring light rays between axial points on said areas, pupil means defining said rays conveyed by the optical system, said pupil means being substantially symmetrically disposed about said axis, and diverting means cooperating with said concave reflecting surface for diverting said rays disposed on a first side of said axis from an axial point on said first area to be substantially symmetrically disposed about said axis in the region of said second area.

Claim 3

An optical system as set forth in claim 1, wherein said optical areas are finite optical planes.

Claim 4

An optical system as set forth in claim 1, wherein said optical areas are located on opposite sides of said optical axis.

Claim 5

An optical system as set forth in claim 1, wherein the axis of said concave reflecting surface is coincident with said optical axis.

Claim 6

An optical system as set forth in claim 1, wherein said concave reflecting surface is substantially spherically concave, and including aberration corrector means for said reflecting surface.

Claim 7

An optical system as set forth in claim 1, wherein said pupil means includes the exit pupil of the optical system.

Claim 8

An optical system as set forth in claim 1, wherein said diverting means includes field lens means having a field lens axis displaced from said optical axis.

Claim 9

An optical system as set forth in claim 1, wherein said diverting means is located in the region of said second optical area.

Claim 10

An optical system, comprising in combination, a first and a second optical area, an optical axis intersecting said areas, said first and second areas being on a first and second side of said axis, respectively, a concave reflecting surface transferring light rays between said areas, an exit pupil and an entrance pupil wherein one of said pupils is substantially symmetrically disposed about said axis, said one of said pupils defining said rays conveyed by the optical system, diverting means including, field lens means having a preponderance of said field lens means on one of said sides, and means locating said field lens means in the region of said second area to divert said rays disposed on said first side from an axial point on said first area to be substantially symmetrically disposed about said axis in the region of said second area.

Claim 11

An optical system, comprising in combination, a first and a second optical area, an optical axis intersecting said areas, said first and second areas being on a first and second side of said axis, respectively, a concave reflecting surface transferring light rays between said areas, an exit pupil and an entrance pupil wherein one of said pupils is substantially symmetrically disposed about said axis, said one of said pupils defining said rays conveyed by the optical system, diverting means including, field lens means having a preponderance of said field lens means on one of said sides, and means locating said field lens means in the region of said second area to divert said rays disposed on said first side from an axial point on said first area to be substantially symmetrically disposed about said axis in the region of said second area.

Claim 12

An optical system as set forth in claim 9, wherein one of said areas includes an image plane and the other of said areas includes an object plane.

Claim 13

An optical system as set forth in claim 9, wherein said concave reflecting surface is substantially spherically concave, and including aberration corrector means for said reflecting surface.

Claim 14

An optical system as set forth in claim 11, wherein said aberration corrector means includes corrector lens means.

Claim 15

An optical system as set forth in claim 11, wherein the axes of said concave reflecting surface and said aberration corrector lens means are coincident with said optical axis.

Claim 16

An optical system as set forth in claim 9, wherein said one of said pupils includes said exit pupil.

Claim 17

An optical system as set forth in claim 9, wherein said one of said sides is said second side and said other of said sides is said first side.

Claim 18

An optical system as set forth in claim 9, wherein the field lens axis of said field lens means is substantially parallel to and displaced from said optical axis and located on the other of said sides.

Claim 19

An optical system as set forth in claim 16, wherein said field lens means is less than a semicircular portion of a given lens.

Claim 20

An optical system as set forth in claim 9, including a first and a second optical path between said reflecting surface and said first and second areas, respectively.

Claim 21

An optical system as set forth in claim 18, wherein said locating means locates said field lens means to be out of one of said optical paths to circumvent rays from said axial point on said first area and to intersect rays in the other of said optical paths.

Claim 22

An optical system as set forth in claim 19, wherein said one of said optical paths is said second optical path.

Claim 23

An optical system, comprising in combination, a first and a second optical area, an optical axis intersecting said areas, said first and second areas being on a first and a second side of said axis, respectively, a spherical concave reflecting surface transferring light rays between said areas, a first and a second optical path between said reflecting surface and said first and second optical areas, respectively, aberration corrector means for said spherical concave reflecting surface, the axes of said concave reflecting surface and said aberration corrector means being coincident with said optical axis, an exit pupil and an entrance pupil, said exit pupil being substantially symmetrically disposed about said optical axis and defining said rays conveyed by the optical system, field lens means less than a semicircular portion of a given lens and located in the region of said second area with a preponderance of said field lens means on said second side, the field lens axis of said field lens means being substantially parallel to and displaced from said optical axis and being located on said first side of said optical axis, and means locating said field lens means to be out of said first optical path to circumvent rays disposed on said first side from an axial point on said first area and to be impinged by rays in said second optical path and to divert same to be substantially symmetrically disposed about said axis in the region of said second area.

Claim 24

An optical system, comprising in combination, a first and a second optical area, an optical axis intersecting said areas, said first and second areas being on a first and a second side of said axis, respectively, a spherical concave reflecting surface transferring light rays between said areas, a first and a second optical path between said reflecting surface and said first and second optical areas, respectively, aberration corrector means for said spherical concave reflecting surface, the axes of said concave reflecting surface and said aberration corrector means being coincident with said optical axis, an exit pupil and an entrance pupil, said exit pupil being substantially symmetrically disposed about said optical axis and defining said rays conveyed by the optical system, field lens means less than a semicircular portion of a given lens and located in the region of said second area with a preponderance of said field lens means on said second side, the field lens axis of said field lens means being substantially parallel to and displaced from said optical axis and being located on said first side of said optical axis, and means locating said field lens means to be out of said first optical path to circumvent rays disposed on said first side from an axial point on said first area and to be impinged by rays in said second optical path and to divert same to be substantially symmetrically disposed about said axis in the region of said second area.

Claim 25

An optical system as set forth in claim 21, wherein said first and second areas are optical planes and are each substantially perpendicular to said optical axis.

Claim 26

An optical system as set forth in claim 21, wherein said first optical area includes an object plane and said second optical area includes an image plane.

Claim 27

An optical system as set forth in claim 21, wherein said aberration corrector means is located in said first optical path.

Claim 28

An optical system as set forth in claim 21, wherein the optical system has a negative Petzval sum.

Claim 29

An optical system as set forth in claim 21 wherein said first area includes means blocking light rays propagating from one-half of an area about said optical axis from impinging upon said reflecting surface.

Claim 30

An optical system as set forth in claim 21, wherein said exit pupil is located outside of said optical paths.

Claim 31

An optical system as set forth in claim 21, wherein said field lens means includes a field lens means having a chord and wherein said chord is located in proximity to said optical axis and substantially parallel to a plane separating said sides containing said optical axis.

Claim 32

An optical system as set forth in claim 21, wherein said aberration corrector lens means includes a first and a second lens having Abbe numbers Nu 1, Nu 2 and radii R1, R2, respectively, and wherein Rm is the radius of curvature of said spherically concave reflecting surface.

Claim 33

An optical system as set forth in claim 29, wherein: 0.9 < Nu 1/ Nu 2 < 1.1.

Claim 34

An optical system as set forth in claim 29, wherein: 0.5 1/Rm < 1/R1 - 1/R2 < 1/Rm

Claim 35

An optical system as set forth in claim 29, wherein: 0.4 Rm < R1 < 0.65 Rm 0.3 Rm < R2 < 0.50 Rm.

Claim 36

An optical system as set forth in claim 29, wherein said aberration corrector means is spaced from said reflecting surface by a distance S wherein: 0.6 Rm < S < 1.0 Rm.