Method to design the common aperture multi-band optical system based on the PSO algorithm

A design method for a common aperture multi-band optical system based on particle swarm optimization (PSO) is proposed. Using the principle of PSO, the optimal parameters of the initial structure of optical system, which meet the requirements of the target function, can be calculated through using multiple iterations. In order to verify the design method, a common aperture multi-band system is created. The optical system can provide images in visible (0.49–0.66 µm), near infrared (0.8–0.9 µm) and medium-wave infrared (3.8–4.8 µm) bands. The focal length of the optical system is 70 mm and the field of view is ±2.5°. The experimental results show that the angular resolution is 1.3 mrad for visible light and near infrared and 4.6 mrad for medium-wave infrared. The optical system can produce images clearly in both the visible and infrared bands, which shows that a design method based on particle swarm optimization is feasible.