Abstract

A linear relationship between the MTF degradation and the wavefront variance has been developed for small wavefront error perturbation. A sensitivity coefficient can then be defined to aid both the design and error budgeting process. For error budgeting, this coefficient is applied to predict change in performance of a nearly diffraction-limited optical imaging system due to manufacture and assembly errors. This leads to a fast and accurate way to create an error budget and explore ideal distribution of individual terms. A CODE V verification model will be presented to show the range of wavefront error that this MTF linear degradation model applied. Further, an example of an error budget spread sheet will illustrate how this model is used to determine the best distribution of error allocations.

© 1994 Optical Society of America