Compact zooming optical systems for panoramic and telescopic applications based on curved image sensor

Abstract

Biological eyes in nature have strongly inspired novel optical systems. In this regard, imaging systems mimicking fish eyes and human eyes have been reported for having a wide field-of-view (FoV) and relatively higher magnification properties, respectively. However, most of these systems have complex lens configurations because of their flat image sensors. As these optical systems are bulky, heavy, and expensive, they have limited application in small devices (e.g., drones and mobile phones). In addition to a simplistic design, multi-functionality is essential for broad applications. Therefore, this study proposes a compact zooming optical system (CZOS) that combines the properties of natural vision systems (i.e., human and fish eyes) using a curved focal plane. The CZOS controls the zoom range through the modification of the distances between the single front lens (i.e., negative meniscus) and dual rear lens (i.e., bi-convex/positive meniscus lenses) groups. In the proposed system, the panoramic mode had an FoV of 200 deg and a magnification of 0.23, whereas the conversion of the system to the high magnification mode increased the magnification over two times with an FoV of 70 deg. These promising results demonstrate that the proposed simple imaging system is applicable to small-scale electronics.