Re: some optical system info

[Tom Droege <droege@wwa.com>]

Here is what Elliot is up to on the lens design.  I think it is
a nice view into the lens design process.  I am very encouraged
by his progress, and the style of his undertaking.   Some things
just feels right.  Look near the end of the message for his home
page where you can see some nice curves.

Tom Droege

>Return-Path: <elliot@hitide.com>
>From: "Elliot Burke" <elliot@hitide.com>
>To: "Tom Droege" <droege@wwa.com>
>Subject: Re: some optical system info
>Date: Sat, 17 Jan 1998 23:14:19 -0800
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>
>Yes, you may post the web address.  The page is under construction (aren't
>they all?), and will contain my solution very soon- in a week or two.
>The general outline of the solution is that a "zoom" lens can be made, where
>instead of zooming focal length, the wavelengths of best correction change,
>while focal length and aberration remain constant.  To my knowledge a system
>like this has not been described before. This is what I may try to blab
>about in the Optical Society meeting in Hawaii.   It seems to be a powerful
>concept, and the design program has shown me some interesting results.
>
>Today I changed the optimization to include glass substitution.  This is a
>neat trick where the program automatically tries different glass
>combinations to find a global optimum.  What this normally does is move to
>kilobuck glasses, but I set up a glass file that includes only glasses that
>cost less than $35/lb.  It has only run a few hours but already the figure
>of merit is 20% improved over my previous best.
>
>The flip side of using very expensive glass is that opticians hate them.
>They tend to be hydroscopic, chemically sensitive, shock and thermally
>sensitive, easy to scratch, and so on.  This drives fabrication costs up, as
>you can imagine.  Hence we will avoid these beasts.
>I'll let you know when I update the web page, in the meantime, enjoy.
>
>Elliot Burke
>HighTide Instruments
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Tom Droege <droege@wwa.com>
>To: Elliot Burke <elliot@hitide.com>
>Date: Saturday, January 17, 1998 9:20 AM
>Subject: Re: some optical system info
>
>
>>Elliot,
>>
>>Ahhh! I can see that you have set us up to appreciate how hard the solution
>is.
>>I eagerly await you to pull the rabbit out of the hat with the good low
>cost
>>solution.
>>
>>Tom
>>
>>At 12:16 AM 1/17/98 -0800, you wrote:
>>>>>>
>>
>>I've put a little background to the lens design on a web page, at
>http://www.hitide.com/ATM/TASS01.html Actual details of the design will
>follow there pretty soon. If there are any comments, I'd be glad to hear
>them. Elliot Burke HighTide Instruments
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