A system for increasing the depth of field and decreasing the wavelength
sensitivity of an incoherent optical system incorporates a special
purpose optical mask into the incoherent system. The optical mask has
been designed to cause the optical transfer function to remain
essentially constant within some range from the in-focus position. Signal
processing of the resulting intermediate image undoes the optical
transfer modifying effects of the mask, resulting in an in-focus image
over an increased depth of field. Generally the mask is placed at or near
an aperture stop or image of the aperture stop of the optical system.
Preferably, the mask modifies only phase and not amplitude of light,
though amplitude may be changed by associated filters or the like. The
mask may be used to increase the useful range of passive ranging systems.