I am designing an infrared lens to work at 10 microns.  I have a detector with   
   a 12 micron pitch and a system maximum aperture of 95 mm.  What would be the   
   optimum focal length for this lens?   
   I realize that it is best to have two pixels across the Airy disk, which would   
   mean this system should a focal length of 80 mm.   
      
   However, the customer wants the resolution equivalent of a diffraction-limited   
   system with a focal length of 200 mm, which of course is not happening with   
   this aperture and this detector pitch, but I was wondering if there is some   
   optimum value for a    
   mismatch between the lens and a detector?  Some focal length which would allow   
   the unresolved details of the scene to best be extracted?   
       
   The system will be taking several images of the scene, and they could,   
   theoretically, be combined to increase the level of detail.   
      
   Thanks in advance for your replies.   
      
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