Engineering a coaxial visible/infrared imaging system based on monolithic multisurface optics.

All-reflective coaxial visible/infrared imaging systems based on monolithic multisurface optics have been a hot point of research in recent years. Since multiple surfaces share a single substrate, their relative positions are fundamentally guaranteed as fabricated without any alignment. In this paper, the coaxial system is designed with multifolded ideas. Both the visible subsystem and the infrared subsystem are comprised of two monolithic optical modules, which are machined by single-point diamond turning (SPDT). A novel method based on a computer-generated hologram (CGH) is then proposed to simultaneously measure the shape and position of monolithic multisurface optics. The effects of surface shape and position error on the wavefront aberration of the system are also discussed with the help of Zernike annular polynomials. Then the wavefront aberration of the system is measured, from which we subtract the contribution of surface shape and position error. The aberration induced by misalignment of the two monolithic modules is then estimated. It indicates that the concentricity is about 3 μm. Finally, two similar systems with different clear apertures are assembled as a coaxial visible/infrared imaging system. Coaxial visible and infrared images are captured and fused to show clearer details.