Advanced Design Tools for Freeform Optics

Advanced optical systems play a pivotal role in military applications of interest to the Missile Defense Agency including advanced optical telescopes and imaging LADARs. Optics provides the eyes for surveillance, target detection and tracking. Therefore, improvements in optical design and fabrication are important targets for research and development. One significant improvement is the inclusion of freeform elements. However, to create such designs, a new environment is needed; one that gives the designer feedback on the manufacturability of the design as well as the optical performance. This environment needs a fundamentally new figure of merit to simultaneously maximize optical performance and minimize fabrication complexity. The kernel of a design environment that leverages advances in design and fabrication capabilities for freeform optical components is the subject of Phase I. Future phases will address other issues including: enhanced manufacturing processes, improved measurement capabilities, and accurate assembly procedures. This new software will enable defense system designers to deploy optimized designs using freeform shapes that will dramatically reduce the amount of exotic materials, such as beryllium, required. The ensuing mass reductions in multi-band (IR and visible) imagery systems will provide enhanced performance for interceptors that require high accelerations to reach their targets.