Abstract

It is common practice to use ray tracing to evaluate the rms blur circle radii vs half-field angle, the radius of encircled energy, and the geometric point spread function during the design of optical systems. Analytical techniques using geometrical optics have also been developed to evaluate the distribution of energy flux density over the image plane and the loci of wavefront curvatures (caustics) in image space. Physical optics techniques, based on Fresnel and Fraunhofer approximations to diffraction theory, have been developed for evaluation of the wavefront amplitude and phase within optical systems.

© 1989 Optical Society of America