Patent ID: 7301707

Claim:
A refractive projection optical system for imaging a first object into a region of a second object, the refractive projection optical system comprising: a plurality of lenses disposed along an imaging beam path of the refractive projection optical system, wherein the refractive projection optical system is configured to generate an intermediate image of the first object and to image the intermediate image into the region of the second object, wherein the intermediate image is formed in between the first and second objects, wherein the plurality of lenses is dividable into a plurality of non-overlapping groups of lenses, such that a total refractive power of each group of lenses is one of a negative refractive power or a positive refractive power, wherein a first group of lenses has a positive refractive power, wherein a second group of lenses has a positive refractive power and is disposed between the first group of lenses having the positive refractive power and the region of the second object, and wherein the intermediate image is formed in a region between the first group of lenses having the positive refractive power and the second group of lenses having the positive refractive power.