Anastigmatic imaging spectrograph

1. A spectrograph comprising:

a housing having a light entrance assembly for receiving an incoming beam of light from a source point of light;

A focal plane array detector;

at least one optical element having a collimating portion arranged for collimating said incoming beam of light to produce a collimated beam, and a dispersing portion for dispersing said collimated beam of light into a dispersed light beam comprising a plurality of wavelengths;

a focusing optical element having a concave surface arranged for focusing said dispersed light beam onto said focal plane array detector,

wherein said focusing optical element has a radius of curvature and is located a distance equal to said radius of curvature from said dispersing portion, and

wherein said focusing optical element comprises an aspheric departure from said concave surface adapted to add or subtract aberrations; and

at least one aberration-correcting element positioned within said housing for receiving and reflecting light, wherein said aberration correcting element includes an aspheric surface adapted to add or subtract aberrations.

2. The spectrograph of claim 1 , wherein said collimating portion of said at least one optical element comprises:

a toroidal collimating minor for collimating said incoming beam of light into said collimated beam,

a separate plano-dispersive element adapted to disperse said collimated beam into said dispersed light beam comprising a plurality of wavelengths,

wherein said at least one aberration-correcting element includes a corrector plate situated between said plano-dispersive element and said focusing element.

3. The spectrograph of claim 2 , further comprising a second aberration correcting element in an optical path between said source point of light and said toroidal collimating minor.

4. The spectrograph of claim 2 , wherein said focusing element has an aspheric departure represented by a fourth order polynomial in radial coordinates to produce aberrations comprising third order Seidel aberrations represented by Seidel coefficients SI, SII, and SIII.

5. The spectrograph of claim 2 , wherein said focusing element has an aspheric departure represented by a freeform polynomial in the Cartesian ‘x’ and ‘y’ coordinates of polynomial order greater than zero to produce first order and higher aberrations.

6. The spectrograph of claim 1 , wherein said aspheric surface is represented by a fourth order polynomial in radial coordinates to produced third order Seidel aberrations represented by Seidel coefficients SI, SII, and SIII.

7. The spectrograph of claim 3 , wherein said second aberration correcting element is represented by a freeform polynomial in the Cartesian ‘x’ and ‘y’ coordinates of polynomial order greater than zero to produce first order and higher aberrations.

8. The spectrograph of claim 1 , wherein said at least one optical element includes a concave diffraction grating adapted to collimate and disperse said divergent beam of light; and

wherein said at least one aberration correcting element includes a corrector plate that is situated between said concave grating and said focusing element.

9. The spectrograph of claim 7 , wherein said concave grating comprises non-uniformly spaced grooves adapted to add positive or negative SIII aberration to said dispersed light beam.

10. A spectrograph for converting an incoming beam of light into a dispersed beam of light comprising:

an optical element adapted for collimating the incoming beam of light into a collimated beam of light;

a dispersing element adapted for converting said collimated beam of light into a dispersed beam of light comprising a plurality of wavelengths;

a focusing element adapted for focusing said dispersed beam of light onto a focal plane; and

a first aberration correcting element;

wherein said focusing element has a radius of curvature and is located a distance equal to said radius of curvature from said dispersing element; and

wherein said focusing element comprises an aspheric departure from said concave surface, said aspheric departure being adapted to add or subtract aberrations; and

wherein said aberration correcting element is in an optical path between said incoming beam of light and said focusing element.

11. The spectrograph of claim 10 further comprising a second aberration correcting element.

12. The spectrograph of claim 10 , wherein said dispersing element is located on a surface of said collimating element to form a dispersing and collimating element.

13. The spectrograph of claim 10 , wherein said incoming beam of light is first directed to said first aberration correcting element and from said aberration correcting element to said to said collimating element, said collimated beam is directed to said dispersing element and said dispersed beams are directed to said focusing element.

14. The spectrograph of claim 12 , wherein said incoming beam of light is first directed to said combined dispersing and collimating element to form collimated and dispersed beams of light and said collimated and dispersed beams of light are directed to said first aberration correcting element and then to said focusing element.

15. The spectrograph of claim 10 , wherein said incoming beam of light is first directed to a second aberration correcting element and then to said collimating element, said collimated beam of light is directed to said dispersing element, said dispersed beams of light are directed to said first aberration correcting element and then to said focusing element.