Miniaturization is the main goal for system design in future cameras. This paper offers a novel method to scale down the optical system and to improve the image quality. As with the human retina, the detector array is spherically bent to fit the curved image surface; so the field curvature aberration is directly suppressed, leading to a better resolution and a simplified optical design. By thinning the substrate, the device is monolithically curved without modifying the fabrication process of the active pixels. Optical characterizations have been performed on planar and curved focal plane based cameras to illustrate the optical advantages of detector array curvature.

We present an original and compact optical system inspired by the unusual eyes of a Strepsipteran insect called Xenos peckii. It is designed for a field of view of 30°and is composed of multiple telescopes. An array of prisms of various angles is placed in front of these telescopes in order to set a different field of view for each channel. This type of camera operates in the [ 3 − 5 μm] spectral bandwidth and is entirely integrated in a Dewar in order to maximize its compactness. Experimental images are presented to validate this design.