Abstract

A new nomographic diagram for design and analysis of paraxial systems has been proposed. The diagram has proved to have the following advantages: (i) Paraxial ray tracing can be performed graphically, with the result being represented by a pattern on the diagram; (ii) from the given pattern of an arbitrary ray, all the structural parameters of the system, and paths of any other rays can be obtained on the diagram; (iii) the nomographic scales devised specially for the diagram facilitate direct reading and/or plotting of the paraxial parameters, e.g., focal lengths, positions of pupils and cardinal points; and, (iv) a system with unknown structural parameters can also be treated on the diagram, provided the entrance and exit conditions are given for a pair of independent rays. It has been shown that the y-ӯ diagram can be obtained from the proposed diagram by a simple graphical transformation.

© 1980 Optical Society of America

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