Reflective Objective Microscope

The invention is an all-reflective microscope with the unique characteristic that has an off-axis configuration with freeform surfaces. This configuration was not possible in the past due to the limitations in the design, fabrication, and testing of freeform optics. By integrating freeform optics in an off-axis setup, this design increases the efficiency and also addresses challenges associated with conventional microscope optics, such as chromatic aberrations and group delay dispersion. It marks a significant step forward in leveraging the full potential of freeform surfaces.

Background: 
Freeform optics are surfaces that lack an axis of rotational invariance. Freeform surfaces may appear to have arbitrary shape, and regular or irregular surface structures. They have a broad area of application such as aerospace illumination and biomedical imaging. 

In the area of imaging systems, freeform surfaces are designed to improve optical performance by removing optical aberrations, increasing the depth of field, and expanding the field of view. The new technology aims to use a novel freeform surface description in microscopes that enables the design of more efficient wave aberration polynomial freeform surfaces.

Applications: 

• Biological microscopy
• Imaging systems
• Other microscopy applications

Advantages: 

• More efficient compared to other freeform surface configurations
• Lack of Group Delay Dispersion (an issue in refractive microscopes)
• Lack of chromatic aberrations
• Enhanced image quality due to minimized optical aberrations
• Greater flexibility in adjusting the field of view and depth of field
• Improved light-gathering efficiency for better illumination of the field of view