Aberration Correction System Design Of A Seeker With Ellipsoidal Dome

Conformal optics is a general class of optical systems in which the optical elements are shaped to optimize something other than image quality, such as aerodynamics. A seeker with ellipsoidal dome is the focus on its development; however, the corrections of large aberrations and dynamic aberrations in different looking fields are problems need to be solved in practical applications.In this thesis, we take the design theory of conformal optical system as the breakthrough point and focus on dealing with the large and dynamic aberrations. In order to apply this kind of system into reality, we investigate the first and the third order performance of ellipsoidal dome at first and analysis the causes and characteristics of the aberrations in this system using vector aberration theory and Eigen-function theory, and then we go to study the conditions to correct astigmatism by choosing the gimbal point in this system. The application of hybrid refractive/ diffractive elements can effectively control the large aberrations in this system. The inclined and eccentric variable corrector and the rear-mounted fixed corrector are also investigated to correct the dynamic aberrations after the dome. The results of simulation show that ways proposed above could improve the conformal dome’s performance a lot. The effect of stray light in this missile seeker with ellipsoidal dome is investigated finally.