Abstract:
In a large-aperture scanning system for infrared light, the incoming light passes from the objective through a pair of scanning prisms rotating on axes that intersect the optical axis and are mutually perpendicular. After passage through the prisms, the light is focused by an optical system onto a pickup device. To provide good scanning efficiency, the image of the pickup device is placed inside the inner prism and the image of the scanned field formed by the objective is made to fall just outside the outer prism, the two images being substantially equally spaced from the path described by the edge of the respective prisms upon rotation.