Abstract

By characterizing optical materials with a linear model based upon Buchdahl’s chromatic coordinate, Mercado and Robb¹ advanced the theoretical study of achromatism. They published a coefficient listing of many hundreds of optical materials, which enabled designers to more easily select components by using graphical means to improve color performance. However, as a result of changes over 17 years in glass formulations, general catalogue alterations and especially environmental constraints on the inclusion of heavy metals in glass manufacturing, a supplement to their original listing is presented. This paper seeks to provide a shortened listing of 243 optical materials and their coefficients. They were calculated using methods nearly identical (identical with respect to optimization) to those of Mercado and Robb. In addition, three optical materials not originally listed (Al₂O₃, CaF₂ and SiO₂) are also included. A polychromatic, diffraction limited doublet example selected from the listing is shown.

© 2002 Optical Society of America