Aspherical optical surfaces and optical scanners

Description

Optical systems with aspherical optical elements are described. The aspherical optical elements have surfaces in which the in-plane radius of curvature spatially varies and the in-plane cross section surface profile is characterized in that the multiplication of the cosine of the incidence angle raised to a non-zero exponent by the in-plane radius of curvature varies less than twenty percent between any two points on the in-plane cross section surface profile.

Aspects

Embodiments of the present invention provide an optical system including an optical reflecting element having a surface with an aspherical shape. The optical reflecting element has a principal axis perpendicular to the surface that intersects the surface at a vertex thereof. The surface is further rotationally asymmetric around the principal axis. The optical reflecting element is optically coupled to receive an incident beam at an incidence angle with respect to the surface. The surface has an in-plane radius of curvature that spatially varies in an in-plane direction, in which the in-plane direction corresponds to a plane including the incident beam and the perpendicular to the surface at the incidence point. The optical reflecting element further has an in-plane cross section surface profile in the in-plane direction that is characterized in that the multiplication of the cosine of the incidence angle raised to a non-zero exponent by the in-plane radius of curvature varies less than twenty percent between any two points on the in-plane cross section surface profile.

Submit Your Intellectual Property Send Your Feedback