Resolve Optics is a specialist supplier of athermalized lenses designed to maintain focus over a wide temperature range.
Application optimized athermalized lens design and supply. Image Credit: Resolve Optics Ltd
Standard, off-the-shelf lenses developed for imaging applications perform well in temperature-controlled environments or where temperatures vary only slightly. However, in certain security, defense, industrial, and space-borne applications, where imaging systems are prone to extreme or wide shifts in temperature, using athermalized lenses is key to minimising temperature-dependent performance changes.
Mark Pontin, Managing Director of Resolve Optics clarified “Because the different materials in a lens expand and contract at different rates, it is important that these factors are considered in the design phase to ensure a lens will remain in focus and provide good performance throughout its operating temperature range”. He added “Developing an athermalized lens design, is especially critical in the infrared (8 – 14 micron) waveband because the coefficient of thermal expansion of most infrared materials is orders of magnitude higher than those of visible glasses, creating large changes in the refractive index."
Resolve Optics has experience of developing passively and mechanically athermalized lenses that offer stable imaging performance for applications with widely varying (-30 °C to +60 °C) or extreme temperatures (up to 950 ⁰C).
Qualification of all athermalized lenses produced by Resolve Optics is conducted on state-of-the-art automated modulation transfer function (MTF) testing equipment. If required, athermalized lenses may be further qualified using the company’s in-house vibration and shock testing facility.