The Center for Freeform Optics
An Industry/University Cooperative Research Center

Freeform spectrometer enabling increased compactness

Jacob Reimers, Aaron Bauer, Kevin P. Thompson, and Jannick P. Rolland
in Light: Science and Applications 6 e17026 (2017).

We present optical designs with freeform optics in the context of hyperspectral imaging. Results show designs that are 5 × more compact in volume than similar designs using conventional spherical or aspherical surfaces. We will show how combining the concepts of spatial and spectral-band broadening, which will be introduced in this paper, led to the improvement in compactness that is uniquely enabled by freeform optics.