Design method for conformal optical systems based on plane-symmetric aberration theoryOA

The design of conformal optical systems often suffers from insufficient theoretical guidance,resulting in repeated trial-and-error optimization.To address this,we introduce a design method based on aberration theory for plane-symmetric systems.By converting global surface parameters into local surface parameters,the aberration theory is generalized to conformal systems,enabling analytical calculation of each surface’s aberration contribution.Using this formulation,we propose a two-step design strategy.First,the optimal gimbal position is determined by minimizing the aberration contribution of the dome’s outer surface.Second,during arch-corrector optimization,freeform parameters associated with dominant aberrations are progressively introduced,and an aberration-coefficient-based merit function is employed.To validate the effectiveness of the proposed method,comparative designs of 14 conformal systems were completed for identical specifications across different gimbal positions and optimization approaches.Results demonstrate that the system designed using our method achieves a full-field modulation transfer function(MTF)exceeding 0.4 at a spatial frequency of 42 lp/mm,with imaging quality approaching the diffraction limit—representing a 2.4×improvement over conventional design methods.This approach provides systematic theoretical guidance for the design of high-performance conformal optical systems.