The program aims to design, manufacture, and characterize weight reduced single element achromatic lenses (SEAL) constructed of nanolayered polymer gradient refractive index (GRIN) materials for improved color correction in visible broadband (350 nm to 1544 nm) wavelength operating military relevant systems. Envisioned optical systems for integration of the GRIN SEAL optics include as riflescopes, spotting scopes, binoculars, and UAV cameras. Utilizing a patented optical design and manufacturing technology developed and verified under the recent DARPA MGRIN program, the Phase I SBIR program will design and fabricate a custom nanolayered polymer optic engineered, constructed, and characterized in Phase I program efforts in a riflescope relevant SEAL GRIN optic design that weighs less thanthat of existing product glass doublet optics with improved on-and off axis color correction as compared to the existing product.
