StingRay Optics has released a 50mm Midwave Infrared (MWIR) Large Format Lens Assembly.
The new lens was developed with an optional microscanning and step-stare sensor capability for enhanced imaging requirements. The 50mm lens offers flexibility to potential end users as either a standalone solution for large format detectors or in conjunction with the enhanced resolution features. These microscan and step-stare subassemblies can be added as an upgrade to the base 50mm lens should future applications warrant the enhanced imaging.
The lens is ideal for use with cooled cameras with focal planes up to 28mm in diagonal. The speed of the lens is based upon an F/2.3 cold shield arrangement and the 50mm focal length for the lens is derived from the required one-metre sampling area at an operating distance of 2.5km.
The MWIR large format lens assembly offers diffraction limited performance over the entire field of view (FOV) thus enabling the microscan image enhancement feature to achieve the highest potential clarity.
The micro-scanning system for which the lens was originally developed is being used to determine the inherent benefits of image dithering and processing with an emphasis on decreasing ground sampling distances. Simultaneously, the system’s step and staring FOV feature is intended to explore both optical and mechanical methods to rapidly survey and stitch the field of view to produce a system with a substantially larger field of regard.