Eyeglass 1 Very large aperture diffractive telescopes

Abstract

The Eyeglass is a very large aperture (25-100-m) space telescope consisting of two distinct spacecraft, separated in space by several kilometers. A diffractive lens provides the telescope s large aperture, and a separate, much smaller, space telescope serves as its mobile eyepiece. Use of a transmissive diffractive lens solves two basic problems associated with very large aperture space telescopes; it is inherently launchable (lightweight, packagable, and deployable) it and virtually eliminates the traditional, very tight surface shape tolerances faced by reflecting apertures. The potential drawback to use of a diffractive primary (very narrow spectral bandwidth) is eliminated by corrective optics in the telescope s eyepiece; the Eyeglass can provide diffraction-limited imaging with either single-band (Deltalambda/lambda approximately 0.1), multiband, or continuous spectral coverage.

Fractal photon sieve

“…A renewed interest in diffractive focusing elements has been experienced by the scientific community in the last years because these elements are essential in image forming setups that are used in THz tomography [1], soft X-ray microscopy [2,3], astronomy [4,5], and lithography [6]. Following this trend, our group has recently introduced a new type of 2D photonic-image-forming structures: the Fractal Zone Plates (FZPs) [7][8][9].…”

Pseudoscopic imaging in a double diffraction process with a slit: critical point properties

“…This new kind of image is of interest because it opens up the possibility of comparing the its parallax field and image quality with those produced by conventional imaging systems. New optical systems based on double diffraction intermediated by a refractive element 3 could also benefit from knowledge of the properties of a simpler system such as ours. In this paper we show additional properties of this kind of image: image resolution, presence of astigmatism, viewing angular field, field of view, and magnification.…”

Transferring diffractive optics from research to commercial applications: Part I – progress in the patent landscape

“…Finally, due to the extreme different dispersive characteristics of DOEs, compared to refractive lenses, they allow an advantageous combination of both to form hybrid imaging systems with optimized performance and compactness. To name a few, the imaging hybrid concept was applied to eyepieces [1][2][3][4][5], head-mounted displays (HMDs) [6][7][8], inspection systems for semiconductor manufacturing industry [9,10] and also for new concepts of space telescopes [11,12]. In this field, the activities of the Japanese company Canon attracted very high interest.…”