All-reflective electronic viewfinder enabled by freeform optics

Abstract

Refractive eyepiece design forms are often limited by chromatic aberrations and require a mix of glass types to achieve sufficient correction, thus they are not conducive to manufacture in volume. Reflective surfaces are inherently achromatic and can be produced in volume, but rotationally symmetric reflective surfaces are either used with lossy obscurations or are incapable of correcting rotationally variant aberrations when used in an unobscured form. Freeform optics enable unobscured reflective design forms with excellent image quality. Here, we document the design, fabrication, and assembly of an all-reflective high-end electronic viewfinder that shows the applicability of freeform surfaces to eyepiece design forms.