Mechanically compensated zoom lenses with a single moving element.
A methodology has been investigated that offers a possible means of determining regions of potential solution space for the basic imaging problem where it is asserted that not more than two generic lenses are needed to solve the problem, if it is solvable at all. When this methodology was expanded to encompass zoom lenses, it was discovered that certain conditions exist that indicated that it may be possible to design a mechanically compensated zoom lens with only one moving lens element. To illustrate this finding, an infrared zoom lens was designed and is presented. The mitigation of mechanical tolerances that is common to mechanically compensated zoom lens systems may be realized as a consequence of this new optical configuration.
Johnson
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Feng
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