Wide-field and wide-aperture optical system, notably designed for a night channel for periscopes, and periscope fitted out with such an optical system

• US 5,239,411 A
• Filed: 08/13/1991
• Issued: 08/24/1993
• Est. Priority Date: 08/14/1990
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Thomson Trt Defense
• Original Assignee: Thomson Trt Defense
• Inventors: Gonnaud, Isabelle, Espie, Jean-Luc
• Primary Examiner(s): Arnold, Bruce Y.
• Assistant Examiner(s): NGUYEN, THONG Q
• Application Number:
  US07/744,395
• Time in Patent Office: 742 Days
• Field of Search: 359/642-661, 359/754-797, 359/691-693, 359/737, 359/745-753, 359/434, 359/435, 359/399, 359/402, 359/404-407, 359/410, 359/420-422 , 359/425-426, 359/432, 359/362-366
• US Class Current: 359/362
• CPC Class Codes: F41H 5/266 Periscopes for fighting or armoured vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 23/08 Periscopes arrangements on floating structures of underwater viewing devices B63C11/49; arrangement of visual watch equipment on submarines B63G8/38

Abstract

The field of the disclosure is that of enlarging optical lenses and, more precisely, binocular optical systems designed to be inserted into the night-time channel of an observation system, between a light intensifier tube and an observer'"'"'s eyes. The disclosure can be applied especially to observation instruments for armored vehicles and, notably, periscopes for tanks. The disclosed optical system for a binocular device is of the type constituted by two groups, a forward group and a rear group, the rear group being constituted by a bonded doublet with plane rear face comprising a convergent convex lens bonded to a divergent lens, the lenses of the bonded doublet having different and complementary dispersions to compensate for the chromatism, and the focal length of the doublet ranging from 0.85F to 1.05F, where F is the focal length of the binocular device.

Claims

1. A binocular device having an optical system which includes two lens groups, a forward lens a forward group and a rear lens group with the forward lens group closer to a viewing location of an observer with respect to said rear group, wherein said rear group includes a bonded doublet having a plane rear face comprising a convergent convex lens bonded to a divergent lens, said lenses of said bonded doublet having different and complementary dispersions to compensate for chromatism, the focal length of said doublet ranging from 0.85F to 1.05F, where F is the focal length of said binocular device.

2. An optical system according to claim 1, wherein the convex face of said convergent lens of said doublet is positioned on an optical axis so as to be approximately centered in the plane of formation of an image.

3. An optical system according to either of the claims 1 or 2, wherein the indices of said convex convergent lens and of said divergent lens range from 1.75 to 1.95 approximately.

4. An optical system according to claim 1, wherein said forward lens group is constituted by a front part and a rear part, said front part being constituted by a convergent biconvex lens and a frontwardly concave meniscus, and said rear part is constituted by a biconvex lens.

5. An optical system according to claim 4, wherein said convergent biconvex lens and said concave meniscus of said front part are separated by a layer of air.

6. An optical system according to claim 4, wherein said convergent biconvex lens and said concave meniscus of said front part are bonded so as to form a doublet.

7. An optical system according to claim 4, wherein said rear part is elbowed.

8. An optical system according to claim 1, wherein said forward lens group is constituted by a front part and a rear part, said front part being constituted by a convergent biconvex lens and a frontwardly concave meniscus, wherein said rear part is constituted by a plano-convex lens, the rear face of which is plane.

9. An optical system according to claim 1, wherein said forward lens group is constituted by a front part and a rear part, said front part being constituted by a convergent biconvex lens and a frontwardly concave meniscus, and wherein said rear part is constituted by a glass plate with plane and parallel faces that is combined with a frontwardly convex meniscus located between said front part and said glass plate.

10. An optical system according to either claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the dispersions of the focal lengths of said forward and rear lens groups respectively range from 1.75F to 2.5F and form 0.85F to 1.05F approximately.