Lens Design Fundamentals

Rudolf Kingslake is regarded as the American father of lens design; his book, originally published in 1978, is viewed as a classic in the field. Dr. R. Barry Johnson, a past SPIE President, revised the book in 2010 providing key updates to address the availability of powerful lens design software packages, theoretical advances, new and improved optical materials, and new surface fabrication technologies. The second edition received the SPIE/OSA 2012 Joseph Goodman Book Writing Award—a biennial award that recognizes outstanding books in the field of optics & photonics that has contributed significantly to research, teaching or industry.

The third edition has been thoroughly revised and expanded to reflect the substantial changes in the field.

Aberration theory has been expanded to include wave aberrations, Zernike polynomials, and nodal aberration theory. Design methods for zoom lenses has been added, along with additional material for design of microscope objectives and eyepieces, with relevant examples. New chapters have been added that cover the fundamentals of anamorphic lenses, miniature lenses used in devices such as smartphones, infrared lenses, freeform optics, and athermalization.

Optical engineers working in lens design will find this book an invaluable guide to lens design in traditional and emerging areas of application; it is also suited to advanced undergraduate or graduate course in lens design principles and as a self-learning tutorial and reference for the practitioner.