An optical design pattern/method was invented to control the total cost including the material and the manufacturing of IR imaging lenses. This optical design pattern/method comprises a molded lens and an aberration correction lens. This design pattern/method leads to cost-effective IR imaging lenses because the unit cost of the molded lens is low for a volume production and the unit cost of the aberration correction lens is low for its very small manufacturing. This optical design pattern/method comprises any imaging and spectral applications for any partial band of 1 to 14 micron, such as (but not limited to) SWIR, MWIR, and LWIR.
