Bionic artificial compound eyes inspire a promising field of miniaturized imaging systems. In this research, a novel infrared (IR) three-dimensional (3D) compound eye imaging system, consisting of a double-side molded 3D microlens array and an aperture array, was designed and fabricated by combining modulated slow-tool-servo diamond turning and precision glass molding. To facilitate the complex profiles on the mold inserts, two novel slow-tool-servo strategies were adopted, namely virtual-axis based diamond broaching and adaptive diamond turning. This microlens array consists of 3 × 3 channels for a field of view of 48° × 48° with a thickness of 1.8 mm. The freeform microlens array on a flat surface was employed to steer and focus the incident light from all three dimensions to a two-dimension (2D) infrared imager. Using raytracing, the profiles of the freeform microlenses of each channel were optimized to obtain the best imaging performance. To avoid crosstalk among adjacent channels, a 3D printed three-dimensional micro aperture array was mounted between the microlens array and the IR imager. The imaging tests of the infrared compound-eye imaging system using the molded chalcogenide glass lenses showed that the asymmetrical freeform lenslets were capable of steering and forming images within the designed field of view. Compared to a conventional infrared camera, this novel microlens array can achieve a considerably larger field-of-view while maintaining low manufacturing cost without sacrificing image quality.

仿生人工复眼激发了微型成像系统的广阔前景。在这项研究中，通过组合调制慢速工具-伺服金刚石车削，设计和制造了一种新型的红外（IR）三维（3D）复眼成像系统，该系统由双面成型的3D微透镜阵列和光圈阵列组成和精密玻璃成型。为了简化模具镶件上的复杂轮廓，采用了两种新颖的慢刀伺服策略，即基于虚拟轴的金刚石拉削和自适应金刚石车削。该微透镜阵列由3×3通道组成，用于48°×48°的视场，厚度为1.8 mm。使用平面上的自由形式微透镜阵列将来自所有三个维度的入射光转向和聚焦到二维（2D）红外成像仪上。使用光线追踪 优化每个通道的自由形式微透镜的轮廓以获得最佳成像性能。为了避免相邻通道之间的串扰，在微透镜阵列和IR成像器之间安装了3D打印的三维微孔阵列。使用模制硫属化物玻璃透镜的红外复眼成像系统的成像测试表明，不对称的自由形式小透镜能够在设计的视场内操纵和形成图像。与传统的红外摄像机相比，这种新颖的微透镜阵列可以在不牺牲图像质量的情况下保持较低的制造成本，同时又能获得更大的视野。在微透镜阵列和红外成像器之间安装了3D打印的三维微孔阵列。使用模制硫属化物玻璃透镜的红外复眼成像系统的成像测试表明，不对称的自由形式小透镜能够在设计的视场内操纵和形成图像。与传统的红外摄像机相比，这种新颖的微透镜阵列可以在不降低图像质量的情况下保持较低的制造成本，同时又能获得更大的视野。在微透镜阵列和红外成像器之间安装了3D打印的三维微孔阵列。使用模制硫属化物玻璃透镜的红外复眼成像系统的成像测试表明，不对称的自由形式小透镜能够在设计的视场内操纵和形成图像。与传统的红外摄像机相比，这种新颖的微透镜阵列可以在不降低图像质量的情况下保持较低的制造成本，同时又能获得更大的视野。