Non-symmetrical design of a compact, lightweight HMD optical system

In non-symmetric optical systems, the field of view is narrow, the diameter of their exit pupil is narrow, their optical structure is complicated, their cost of manufacturing is high, and assembly adjustment is troublesome. To address these problems, free-form mirror is applied in the system. The design requirements and working principle of the dual mirror non-symmetrical optical system are firstly discussed. Then, the off-axis structure control method of the three-mirror non-symmetric optical system is analyzed. Finally, the XY polynomial free-form mirror is used to fold the optical path, eliminating the obstruction, enlarging the field of view, correcting the off-axis aberration, and a non-symmetrical optical system is designed suitable for Helmet-Mounted Display(HMD). The designed dual mirror non-symmetrical optical system has a field of view of 60 degrees x 30 degrees and a pupil diameter of 8 mm. At a cutoff frequency of 52 lp/mm, the full field of view Modulation Transfer Function(MTF) value is greater than 0.25 and system distortion is less than 5%. This monocular system's weight is about 190 g. The design results show that the non-symmetrical optical system has an improved field of view and image quality, it is compact and lightweight, and can be applied to a HMD.