Zoom Lens Design of Mobilephone Camera with Global-Explorer Optimization

Unlike the designs of common zoom lenses in literature, mobilephone applications demand an extremely short total track length (TTL), less around 10 mm. This short TTL request makes the zoom lens design of mobile phones unique. Also in viewing the cost advantage of CMOS sensor, we explore the mobilephone camera zoom lens with typical CMOS sensor format by global explorer (GE) optimization as well as the fundamental limitations. The basic lens forms for initial designs are deduced. Physically different merit functions have been developed to investigate how the best performance could be achieved. Furthermore, we also identify the improvements that could be achieved by GE optimization.