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Design of direct-vision cyclo-olefin-polymer double Amici prism for spectral

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Article  in  Applied Optics · October 2017

DOI: 10.1364/AO.56.008430

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 8430 Vol. 56, No. 30 / October 20 2017 / Applied Optics Engineering and Laboratory Note

Design of direct-vision cyclo-olefin-polymer

double Amici prism for spectral imaging
LEI WANG,1 ZHENGZHENG SHAO,1,2 WUSHENG TANG,1 JIYING LIU,1 QIANWEN NIE,1 HUI JIA,1
SUIAN DAI,1 JUBO ZHU,1 AND XIUJIAN LI1,*
1
National University of Defense Technology, College of Science, 109 DeYa Street, ChangSha 410073, China
2
e-mail: zzshao_nudt@163.com
*Corresponding author: xjli@nudt.edu.cn

Received 3 July 2017; revised 1 September 2017; accepted 7 September 2017; posted 22 September 2017 (Doc. ID 301178);
published 18 October 2017

A direct-vision Amici prism is a desired dispersion element in the value of spectrometers and spectral imaging
systems. In this paper, we focus on designing a direct-vision cyclo-olefin-polymer double Amici prism for spectral
imaging systems. We illustrate a designed structure: E48R/N-SF4/E48R, from which we obtain 13 deg dispersion
across the visible spectrum, which is equivalent to 700 line pairs/mm grating. We construct a simulative spectral
imaging system with the designed direct-vision cyclo-olefin-polymer double Amici prism in optical design
software and compare its imaging performance to a glass double Amici prism in the same system. The results
of spot-size RMS demonstrate that the plastic prism can serve as well as their glass competitors and have better
spectral resolution. © 2017 Optical Society of America
OCIS codes: (230.5480) Prisms; (080.2740) Geometric optical design; (220.0220) Optical design and fabrication.

https://doi.org/10.1364/AO.56.008430

1. INTRODUCTION systems [13–15] and are considered to be another alternative

Prisms and gratings are the essential dispersion elements
for spectrometers and spectral imaging systems. With special
design, direct-vision prism (DVP) [1] can be achieved, which
is a type of compound prism and can produce a dispersion
without deviating the center wavelength ray. Since first discov-
ered by Amici in 1865, DVPs have been utilized by many
researchers in their instruments, such as spectrometers [2]
and spectral imaging systems [3]. Usually, the structures of a
conventional spectral imaging system are complex and huge,
which also increases calibration and adjustation difficulties.
In recent years, a new type of spectral imaging system, i.e.,
compressive imaging system [4–6], has been developed, which
is usually compact and can efficiently use light energy. As a
promising compound prism, the direct-vision prism will help
to make the system more compact and easier to adjust [7,8].
Different materials, including glasses [9–11] and some op-
tical liquids such as barium bromide [12], which are lighter and
cheaper than glasses, have been tried for the large direct-vision
prisms for applications in large-aperture-ratio spectrometers
and spectral imagers. However, the refractive index of the op-
tical liquids usually has large variation with temperature [1] and
won’t be able to maintain a specific shape without a container,
which makes the fabrication and calibration of the liquid prisms
difficult. Thanks to progress of polymer chemistry, optical
plastics have been used to produce lenses for many optical
material to make large, light, and shatterproof compound
prisms. One of the plastic materials, i.e., Zenonex E48R,
can maintain high-quality optical performance [15] with high
heat resistance.
Herein, we design a kind of direct-vision cyclo-olefin-
polymer double Amici prism, which can provide maximum
dispersion of 13 deg across the visible light spectrum. In order
to compare with a glass double Amici prism used in former
research [4], we select one of our designed prisms to analyze
the imaging performance by simulations. The simulation re-
sults of spot size RMS indicated that the imaging performance
of the system based on the designed cyclo-olefin-polymer
double Amici prism at different wavelength light sources is
as good as that of the glass prism system. Meanwhile, the sys-
tem with a plastic prism has better spectral resolution in the
same circumstances because of the larger dispersion.
2. SELECTION OF PLASTICS FOR PRISM
DESIGN
Several physical properties such as refractive index, water ab-
sorption, and light transmittance determine the performance
of prisms in specific applications.
As ideal materials for optical components used in the visible
and near-infrared spectral range, refractive indexes of the optical

1559-128X/17/308430-06 Journal © 2017 Optical Society of America

 Engineering and Laboratory Note Vol. 56, No. 30 / October 20 2017 / Applied Optics 8431

Table 1. Several Physical, Optical, and Thermal Properties of Two Plastics and Three Glassesa
Properties E48R PC BK7 N-SF4 N-SF6
Physical
Density (g∕cm3 ) 1.01 1.20 2.51 3.15 3.37
Water absorption (%) <0.01 0.2 – – –
Optical
Refractive index (nd ) 1.531 1.585 1.517 1.755 1.805
Light transmittance (%) 92 (3 mm) 88 (3 mm) 99 (10 mm) 95 (10 mm) 82 (10 mm)
Abbe number (V d ) 56.04 30 64.17 27.38 25.36
Thermal
Thermal expansion coefficient (°C−1 ) 6 × 10−5 7 × 10−5 7.1 × 10−6 9.5 × 10−6 9 × 10−6
Transformation temperature (°C) 139 120 557 570 589
a
All of the properties are compared between E48R and other material; the data of the properties are referred from [16] and [1].

glasses are insensitive to temperature fluctuations in a wide an angle of i 0
λ to the optical axis. Then, the angle of inci-
spectral range, which gives excellent flexibility for optical dence is determined as
designers. Furthermore, a low thermal expansion coefficient i 1
λ  i 0
λ − β: (1)
can make the optical elements preserve original shapes in a wide
range of temperatures. Though many shapes and types of After entering the prism, the ray gets refracted at an angle,
compound prisms based on glasses such as BK7 are available which is determined by Snell’s Law:


today, as the densities are usually several times that of water (the 1
properties of BK7, N-SF4, and N-SF6 are shown in Table 1, i 10
λ  arcsin sin i 1
λ : (2)
n
which is extracted from the SCHOTT [16] glass catalog),
the glass elements are cumbersome in many applications such Then, the refracted rays will have an angle i 2
λ with the
as large aperture-ratio spectrometers and spectral imagers. normal line of the second surface, which is determined by
According to Table 1, the densities of plastics such as i 2
λ  i 10
λ − α: (3)
Zenonex E48R [17], which is a cyclo-olefin-polymer (COP) The refracted angle i 20
λ on the second surface will be
(Zeon Chemicals), and polycarbonate (PC) [18] are much determined by Eq. (4):
smaller than that of the glasses. Among E48R and PC, as
the density of E48R is smaller, the light transmittance is better, i 20
λ  arcsin
n · sin i 2
λ: (4)
and the thermal properties are better; thus, it is selected for the And the angle i 3
λ between the exit rays and the optical axis
direct-vision double Amici prism design. is determined by
i 3
λ  i 20
λ  γ: (5)
3. DESIGN OF DIRECT-VISION DOUBLE AMICI
PRISM The deviation angle Δ
λ is defined as

The design of optical components is mainly based on ray trac-
ing; Fig. 1 shows the refraction of a ray through a simple prism,
where α is the apex angle of the single prism and is divided into
two parts by the perpendicular line; the left part is β, and the
right part is γ. The refracted angle of the ray is given by
Snell’s law.
Here, the angles follow the modern sign convention [19].
The incident ray shoot on the front surface of the prism with
Fig. 1. Ray tracing through a simple prism.
Δ
λ  i 0
λ − i 3
λ  i 1
λ − i 20
λ − α: (6)
Therefore, based on Eqs. (1)–(6), the deviation angle Δ
λ
for a monochromatic wave can be calculated. Generally,
the Fraunhofer F and C wavelengths (λF  486 nm, λC 
656 nm) are used as two extreme wavelengths to calculate
the total dispersion difference D for optical design
D  Δ
λmin  − Δ
λmax ; (7)
where λmin and λmax represent the minimum and maximum
wavelengths. Obviously, dispersion D is a function of material
dispersion n
λ, the incident ray angle i 1
λ, and the prism apex
angle α. By assuming small prism angle α and small incident
angle i 1
λ, the deviation Δ
λ can be expresses in a linear
form [18]:
Δ
λ 
n − 1α: (8)
The Abbe number V d is a constant usually used in prism
design to characterize the dispersion of optical materials, which
is defined as
n −1
Vd  d ; (9)
nF − nC
where nd is the index for the helium d line (587 nm), and nF
and nC represent the hydrogen F (486 nm) and C (656 nm)
 8432 Vol. 56, No. 30 / October 20 2017 / Applied Optics Engineering and Laboratory Note

Fig. 2. Diagram of ray tracing through a double Amici prism.

lines, respectively. We also use the Abbe number in a more the same angles, based on Eq. (6), the deviation angle of the
general form: center wavelength Δ̄  Δ
λ̄ is
n
λ̄ − 1 Δ̄  2
n1
λ̄ − 1α1 
n2
λ̄ − 1α2 : (12)
V  ; (10)
n
λmax  − n
λmin  Then, the total dispersion difference D of the double Amici
where n
λ̄, n
λmax , and n
λmin  are the refractive indexes of prism can be written as
the central wavelength, the maximum and the minimum wave- Δ̄1 Δ̄2
length of the concerned spectral range, respectively. D2  ; (13)
V1 V2
The spectral nonlinearity ratio R SNL for characterizing
the dispersion linearity of the prism is defined as Eq. (11). where Δ̄1 
n1
λ̄ − 1α1 and Δ̄2 
n2
λ̄ − 1α2 , and V 1
When R SNL approaches 1, it can be considered that the non- and V 2 represent the Abbe number of (element 1) and
linear dispersion of the prism is dominant: (element 2), respectively. For the direct-vision prism, the
deviation angle should be zero, i.e., Δ̄  0, which satisfies
   
 d Δ
λ       the following equation:
 d λ  −  d Δ
λd λ min  d Δ
λ  d Δ
λ
R SNL   max  
1−   
 d Δ
λ d λ  ∕ d λ  : α2 
2
n1
λ̄ − 1
α1 : (14)
 dλ  min max

1 − n2
λ̄
max
(11) The apex angles of double Amici prism can be determined
by Eqs. (13) and (14). Because dispersion D  2° is the value
When the deviation angle of the central wavelength is zero for the double Amici prism design in [9] for the following com-
for a prism, i.e., Δ
λ̄  0, a direct-vision prism will be parison and is an appropriate value for compound prisms, in
achieved. However, direct-vision obviously cannot be achieved order to achieve large dispersion, the desired total dispersion
in a monomeric prism. In order to increase the dispersion, we difference D is set to 2 deg for the design, which leads to
are concerned with three elements such as the double Amici

V2 V 2
n1
λ̄ − 1
prism rather than two elements [20,21] for the direct-vision α2  2  α1 : (15)
prism design, as shown in Fig. 2, in which the first (element n2
λ̄ − 1 V 1
1 − n2
λ̄
1) and the third (element 3) elements share the same material Usually, Eqs. (14) and (15) give the linear design curve with
and apex angles to have a symmetric structure. design goals of Δ̄  0 and D  2°, and the nonlinear equa-
As the symmetric structure of the double Amici prism makes tions of ray propagation in a double Amici prism, as shown
the ray pass through the surfaces of first and third elements with in Eq. (16), give the nonlinear design curve:

  9
i 1
λ  i 0
λ − β1 ; i 10
λ  a sin 1
sin i 1
λ ; i 2
λ  i 10
λ − α1 >
>
  n1
 =
i 20
λ  a sin nn12 sin i 2
λ ; i 3
λ  i 20
λ − α2 ; i 30
λ  a sin n21 sin i 3
λ >;
n (16)
>
;
i 4
λ  i 30
λ − α1 ; i 40
λ  a sin
n2 sin i 4
λ; i 5
λ  i 40
λ − β1

where β1  −α1  12 α2 , Δ
λ  i 0
λ − i 5
λ, and D  Δ
λmin  − Δ
λmax . According to Eq. (16), the final nonlinear design equa-
tions can be achieved as follows:
 Engineering and Laboratory Note Vol. 56, No. 30 / October 20 2017 / Applied Optics 8433

Δ̄  i 0
λ − i 40
λ  β1 ; (17)

D  i 40
λmax  − i 40
λmin ; (18)

where i 0
λ is the angle between the incident rays and the
optical axis, β1 is the left part of the apex angle of element
1, and i 40
λ is calculated from the nonlinear equations
in Eq. (16).
In the designed double Amici prism, glass N-SF4 is chosen
for the second prism element, and COP E48R is chosen for the
first and third elements. The design curves of a direct-vision
double Amici prism over the visible spectral range (400–
700 nm) is illustrated in Fig. 3 with design goals of Δ̄  0
and D  2°. The linear equations provide a basic direct-vision Fig. 4. Combination of linear and nonlinear design curves in double
design of
α1 ; α2  
40.8°; −57.1°, and the nonlinear curve Amici prism design.
gives an optimum at
α1 ; α2  
37.5°; −51.2°.
Obviously, the design results from linear design curves
and nonlinear deign curves are different, which also can be seen
in Fig. 4 in which the linear and the nonlinear curves are
plotted together. Therefore, the linear design equations, i.e.,
Eqs. (14) and (15), are used to obtain a basic design solution,
and then the nonlinear equations, i.e., Eq. (16), provide an
optimization.
Basically, the dispersion of double Amici prism is deter-
mined by the design parameters. In order to find the total
dispersion difference limit of the direct-vision compound
prisms based on optic plastics, the design parameters as the
function of a prism’s total dispersion difference for the visible
spectral range (400–700 nm) are analyzed and shown in Fig. 5.
According to Fig. 5, the total dispersion difference limit is
about 13° at the design of
α1 ; α2  
95.2°; −110.1°. Based
Fig. 5. Design parameters of a direct-vision E48R/N-SF4/E48R
double Amici prism as a function of a prism’s total dispersion
difference.

on the grating equation, the formula for estimating the

dispersion ability of a grating can be written as

Dgrating  arcsin
λmax ∕d  − arcsin
λmin ∕d ; (19)

where d is the grating constant. Based on Eq. (19), obviously

Fig. 3. Design curves of double Amici prism: (a) linear design curve;
(b) nonlinear deign curve.
the maximum total dispersion difference of the designed plastic
prism is equivalent to a 700 line pairs/mm grating. This
dispersion ability can satisfy most spectral imaging systems.
Above all, as the lighter weight of optical plastics, the prisms
will be lighter than those based on glasses such as SK2. The
dispersion curves of the double Amici prism in the visible spec-
tral range (400–700 nm) are shown in Fig. 6.
Based on Eq. (11), the R SNL can be calculated to estimate
the dispersion linearity of the direct-vision cyclo-olefin-polymer
double Amici prism at a design target of (Δ̄  0, D  2°).
Here, R SNL  0.88 for the designed double Amici prism, while
R SNL  0.89 for the double Amici prism based on glass, which
is mentioned in [4] and indicates that the dispersion nonline-
arity of the designed direct-vision cyclo-olefin-polymer double
Amici prism is acceptable for engineering applications.
 8434 Vol. 56, No. 30 / October 20 2017 / Applied Optics Engineering and Laboratory Note

Fig. 6. Dispersion curve of light double Amici prism design with

E48R/N-SF4/E48R (right axis) and the corresponding dispersion
gradient (left axis).

4. PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF SPECTRAL

IMAGER WITH THE DESIGNED DIRECT-VISION
CYCLO-OLEFIN-POLYMER DOUBLE AMICI PRISM
Image performance of the designed double Amici prism is Fig. 8. Spot diagrams of designed prism (E48R/N-SF4/E48R) at
analyzed in an imaging system structure, which has been nine different field points at a 450 nm light source; the unit here
selected to construct a “coded aperture snapshot spectral imager is micrometer.
(CASSI)” system [4], which is shown in Fig. 7. Major compo-
nents of the system include objective lens, aperture or slit,
bandpass filter, relay lens, double Amici prism, and detector wavelengths of 450–650 nm for the two prisms are similar
array, in which the objective lens and the relay lens are with and also similar to the glass prism used in [4]. All the simulation
the same parameters as in [4]. results demonstrate that the image performance of the spectral
Nine different field positions on the object plane are selected imaging system with the designed cyclo-olefin-polymer double
to analyze the system performance: 1) (−1.26, 1.22 mm); Amici prism at different wavelength light sources is as good as
2) (0, 1.22 mm); 3) (1.26, 1.22 mm); 4) (−1.26, 0 mm); that based on the classical glass prisms. However, the designed
5) (0, 0 mm); 6) (1.26, 0 mm); 7) (−1.26; −1.22 mm);
8) (0, −1.22 mm); 9) (1.26, −1.22 mm).
By comparing one of our designed prisms with

α1 ; α2  
25.7°; −35.6°, and a glass prism (SK2/SF4/SK2)
with
α1 ; α2  
20.4°; −32.6° with the same dispersion,
the spot diagrams of the two prisms at λ  450 nm are shown
in Figs. 8 and 9, respectively, and the RMS radii range of the
field positions with wavelengths of 450–650 nm are shown in
Table 2.
According to the spot diagrams for comparison, the spot
diagrams of the two prisms at λ  450 nm light source are sim-
ilar to each other, which indicates that the image performance
of the spectral imaging system with the designed cyclo-olefin-
polymer double Amici prism is as good as the system with a
classical glass prism. According to Table 2, it can be found
that the spot sizes of the nine different field positions with

Fig. 9. Spot diagrams of a glass prism (SK2/SF4/SK2) at nine

Fig. 7. Schematic of the ray tracing through direct-vision spectral different field points at a 450 nm light source; the unit here is also
imaging system. micrometer.
 Engineering and Laboratory Note Vol. 56, No. 30 / October 20 2017 / Applied Optics 8435

Table 2. RMS Radii Range at Different Field Positions with Wavelength between 450 and 650 nm of Two Prisms
Wavelength (nm) 450 480 500 550 580 600 650
RMS radii of designed double Amici prism (μm) 8.5–9.3 3.4–5.3 3.2–6.3 4.3–8.1 4.2–8.1 3.9–7.9 3.3–6.8
RMS radii of glass prism (μm) 8.4–9.5 2.9–4.6 2.8–5.2 3.3–7.0 3.8–7.2 2.8–7.0 2.2–6.2
RMS radii of glass prism in [5] (μm) 7.0–9.0 – – 3.0–8.0 – – 3.0–80

prism can provide total dispersion difference up to D  1.3°,
which is larger than that of the classical glass prism, which can
only provide D  1.1°, and illustrates that the designed prism
system will have better spectral resolution.
5. CONCLUSION
Compound prisms are commonly used in spectroscopy as
dispersion elements, which have numerous applications such as
spectrometers and spectral imaging systems. To reduce the
weight of prisms used in spectral imagers, a double Amici prism
with optical plastics of E48R, which is a cyclo-olefin polymer
(COP) (Zeon Chemicals), is designed. The E48R has similar
optical properties to common prisms based on classical glasses
such as BK7 but with several times smaller density. We illus-
trated a designed prism with structure of E48R/N-SF4/E48R,
from which we obtain the total dispersion difference up to
D  13° over the visible spectrum, which is equivalent to a
700 line pairs/mm grating. The imaging performance simula-
tion results demonstrate that the spectral imaging system with
the designed double Amici prism has performance as good as
that of systems with classical glass prisms. Furthermore, the de-
signed plastic prism are much lighter and provide better spectral
resolution in the same circumstances because of the larger
dispersion. Generally, with the characteristics of light weight,
high imaging performance, and high dispersion, the designed
direct-vision cyclo-olefin-polymer double Amici prisms are
extremely suitable for applications such as large aperture-ratio
spectrometers and spectral imaging systems.
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