Thales

Centre National De La Recherche Scientifique

Université´ D'aix-Marseille

Nicolas Tetaz

Emmanuel Hugot

Marc Ferrari

Thierry Viard

Cyril Ruilier

François-Régis Gourillon

Grégoire Hein

Wilfried Jahn

A telescope includes an initial telescope comprising a concave first mirror and a convex second mirror that are configured so that they form, from a light beam coming from infinity, an image called the intermediate image in a focal plane called the intermediate focal plane, the intermediate image having a largest dimension along an X-axis perpendicular to an optical axis of the telescope, a segmenting module comprising a first set of n segmenting mirrors that are placed downstream of the intermediate focal plane and that are configured to divide the intermediate image obtained from the intermediate focal plane into n sub-images, a second set of n refocusing mirrors that are configured to reimage the n sub-images into n images in a focal plane of the telescope, the images being arranged in the focal plane so as to decrease the dimension along X containing the n images, a detecting device placed in the focal plane.

Cassegrain telescope with a segmented focal plane

A Bi-spectral Korsch-type anastigmat telescope has an optical axis and a visible channel comprising a concave first mirror, a convex second mirror and a concave third mirror and a visible detector that is sensitive in a visible band, the mirrors being arranged so that the first mirror and the second mirror form, of an object at infinity, an intermediate image located between the second mirror and the third mirror, the third mirror forming, from this intermediate image, a final image in the visible focal plane of the telescope, wherein the visible detector is placed, an infrared channel comprising first and second mirrors in common with the visible channel, a third IR mirror, a fourth IR mirror, and an IR detector that is sensitive in an infrared band, the third and fourth IR mirrors being configured to form, from the intermediate image, a final image in an IR focal plane.

Bi-spectral anastigmat telescope

A bifocal anastigmatic telescope with five aspherical mirrors, comprises: a concave first mirror, a convex second mirror, a concave third mirror and a first detector, which are common to a first and second focal length of the telescope, a first fourth mirror and a first fifth mirror that are associated with the first focal length, and a second fourth mirror and a second fifth mirror that are associated with the second focal length, the first mirror and the second mirror being arranged to form, from an object at infinity, an intermediate image situated between the second mirror and the third mirror, and for each focal length: the fixed positions and forms of the mirrors associated with the focal length being determined from the generalized Korsch equations with 5 mirrors, with the constraint of the first, second and third mirror and of the first focal plane that are common to the two focal lengths, and so as to optimize the image quality in the first focal plane of the telescope in accordance with a predetermined criterion.

Bifocal anastigmatic telescope with five mirrors

A three-aspherical-mirror anastigmat telescope comprises: means for moving the third mirror linearly along the optical axis of the telescope to make the focal length of the telescope change between a minimum focal length and a maximum focal length, a deformable and controllable mirror, means for changing the optical path between the deformable mirror and the detector, the third mirror having a new conicity determined from an initial conicity, the initial conicity determined from the Korsch equations, the new conicity determined so that the telescope has, in the absence of the deformable mirror and for the minimum and maximum focal lengths, aberrations that are compensable by the deformable mirror, the fixed median position of the deformable mirror and the form of its surface, for the minimum focal length and maximum focal length, respectively, being determined so as to correct the compensable aberrations and to optimize image quality in the focal plane of the telescope according to a preset criterion.

Compact telescope having a plurality of focal lengths compensated for by a deformable mirror

An anastigmat Korsch telescope with three aspherical mirrors includes a bearing structure having a first face to which the first mirror is attached, a hollow structure of a shape elongated in a direction substantially perpendicular to the plane of the central aperture, limited by walls attached to the inside of which are the second mirror in a portion of the hollow structure located in front of the first mirror, and at least one other mirror selected from the third mirror and the at least one deflecting mirror, the walls having at least one first aperture so as to allow a light beam to pass through coming from the object originating from the first mirror and heading toward the second mirror, the bearing structure further comprising means of attachment of the hollow structure to the bearing structure, at least one structure selected from the hollow structure and the bearing structure having a portion traversing the central aperture.

Korsch telescope

A three-aspherical-mirror anastigmat telescope comprises means for moving the third mirror linearly along the optical axis of the telescope so as to make the focal length of the telescope change to a plurality of focal lengths between at least a minimum focal length and a maximum focal length, a plurality of aspherical optical components respectively associated with the plurality of focal lengths, the third mirror having a new conicity determined from an initial conicity, the new conicity being determined so that the telescope has, in the absence of the aspherical components and for the minimum and maximum focal lengths, aberrations that are compensable by the aspherical components, the position and the form of the surface of each aspherical component being determined so as to correct the compensable aberrations of the telescope for the associated focal length and to optimize image quality in the first focal plane of the telescope according to a preset criterion.

Compact telescope having a plurality of focal lengths and compensated by aspherical optical components

A three-mirror anastigmat telescope comprises at least a concave first mirror, a convex second mirror and a concave third mirror, the three mirrors arranged so that the first mirror and the second mirror form, from an object at infinity, an intermediate image situated between the second mirror and the third mirror, the third mirror forming, from this intermediate image, a final image in the focal plane of the telescope. In the architecture of the telescope, at least the surface of the concave third mirror is a &#x3c6;-polynomial surface.

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Nicolas Tetaz