<title>Achromatic eyepieces using acrylic diffractive lenses</title>

Abstract

A symmetric two element, 10X eyepiece has been designed using a combination of refractive and diffractive surfaces. Each element consists of a diffractive and refractive surface to form a hybrid optic. The symmetry of the design combined with loose manufacturing tolerances provides an extremely cost effective approach to obtaining high-quality imaging. The diffractive surfaces achromatize the design which enables manufacture with a single optical material. During injection molding production of the hybrid element, the measured diffraction efficiency at the edge of the clear aperture ranges between 96 - 98% at the design wavelength of 558 nm. The lateral color, which is a critical aberration to correct in high- performance eyepieces, has been measured for the hybrid design and found to match within 1.2 micrometers of its theoretical value.