Plasmat lens further refines these achromats into triplets with the following design parameters: a high-index, doubly convex (DCX) lens cemented to a medium-index, doubly concave (DCV) lens cemented to a low-index meniscus lens. Up to this point, all refinements have maintained symmetry about the stop. The Plasmat further refines the Dagor form by uncementing the meniscus, allowing for placement away from the first two elements and removing the criterion of symmetry. In its most basic form, it is symmetrical and consists of two cemented groups of three lenses each. The innermost element in each group is a positive meniscus, the outermost is
Focal cloud Focal cloud A focal cloud is the collection of focal points of an "imperfect" lens or parabolic reflector whether optical, electrostatic or electromagnetic. This includes parabolic antennas and lens-type reflective antennas of all kinds. The effect is analogous to the circle of confusion in photography. In a perfect lens or parabolic reflector, rays parallel to the device's axis striking the lens or reflector all pass through a single point, the focal point. In an imperfectly constructed lens or reflector, rays passing through different parts of the element do not converge to a single point but have different focal points. The