Enhancing the field of view of cat-eye retroreflectors by simply matching the mirror radius of curvature and the lens focal length

Quan Sheng; Aihua Wang; Yue Qi; Meng Wang; Zheng Shi; Jingni Geng; Junjie Liu; Sijia Wang; Shijie Fu; Wei Shi; Jianquan Yao

Results in Physics (Jun 2022)

Enhancing the field of view of cat-eye retroreflectors by simply matching the mirror radius of curvature and the lens focal length

Quan Sheng,
Aihua Wang,
Yue Qi,
Meng Wang,
Zheng Shi,
Jingni Geng,
Junjie Liu,
Sijia Wang,
Shijie Fu,
Wei Shi,
Jianquan Yao

Affiliations

Quan Sheng: Institute of Laser and Optoelectronics, School of Precision Instrument and Optoelectronics Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China; Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Information Science and Technology (Ministry of Education), Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China; Corresponding authors.
Aihua Wang: Institute of Laser and Optoelectronics, School of Precision Instrument and Optoelectronics Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China; Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Information Science and Technology (Ministry of Education), Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China
Yue Qi: Tianjin Suowei Electronic Technology Co., Ltd., Tianjin 300384, China
Meng Wang: Institute of Laser and Optoelectronics, School of Precision Instrument and Optoelectronics Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China; Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Information Science and Technology (Ministry of Education), Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China
Zheng Shi: Institute of Laser and Optoelectronics, School of Precision Instrument and Optoelectronics Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China; Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Information Science and Technology (Ministry of Education), Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China
Jingni Geng: Institute of Laser and Optoelectronics, School of Precision Instrument and Optoelectronics Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China; Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Information Science and Technology (Ministry of Education), Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China
Junjie Liu: Institute of Laser and Optoelectronics, School of Precision Instrument and Optoelectronics Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China; Tianjin Jinhang Institute of Technical Physics, Tianjin 300308, China
Sijia Wang: Qian Xuesen Laboratory of Space Technology, China Academy of Space Technology, Beijing 100094, China
Shijie Fu: Institute of Laser and Optoelectronics, School of Precision Instrument and Optoelectronics Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China; Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Information Science and Technology (Ministry of Education), Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China
Wei Shi: Institute of Laser and Optoelectronics, School of Precision Instrument and Optoelectronics Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China; Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Information Science and Technology (Ministry of Education), Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China; Corresponding authors.
Jianquan Yao: Institute of Laser and Optoelectronics, School of Precision Instrument and Optoelectronics Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China; Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Information Science and Technology (Ministry of Education), Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China

Journal volume & issue: Vol. 37
p. 105558

Abstract

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The field curvature (FC) induced defocusing is the main issue which limits the effective field of view (FoV) of cat-eye retroreflectors (CERs). We found that for a certain common spherical lens, there exists an optimal mirror radius of curvature (ROC), which is different from the focal length f of the lens and could minimize the FC-induced defocusing. Therefore, the effective FoV of the CERs can be enhanced by simply optimizing the relationship between the lens focal length and the mirror ROC. The optimizing criterion and calculation results are discussed here. Improved CERs with off-the-shelf components were used as the output coupler of a Nd:GdVO4 laser cavity for its alignment-free operation. Compared with the conventional CERs with mirror ROC equals to the lens focal length and with flat mirror, the improved CERs exhibited significantly improved FoVs.

Published in Results in Physics

ISSN: 2211-3797 (Online)
Publisher: Elsevier
Country of publisher: Netherlands
LCC subjects: Science: Physics
Website: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/results-in-physics/

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