Miniaturization and simplification of zoom lenses using wavefront coding

摘要

Traditional zoom lens designs employ multiple moving lens elements to provide simultaneous control of focal length and focal plane. We present an approach to a design of a simplified zoom lens by employing a single moving element to control only the focal length. We show that the defocus in miniaturized zoom lenses with a single moving element can be corrected by the use of wavefront coding, although this introduces a modest reduction in signal-noise-ratio. As an example, we present a design of a miniaturized 10 mm long wavefront coded 2.3x optical zoom lens with a single moving lens element.