Optical Quality Metrics

doi:10.1117/3.1002794.ch3

Book: Optical Specification, Fabrication, and Testing

Author(s): Jim Schwiegerling

Published: 2014

https://doi.org/10.1117/3.1002794.ch3

Author Affiliations +

Abstract

In the previous chapter, diffraction and aberration theory was developed to relate the shape of the wavefront in the exit pupil to the irradiance pattern formed in the image plane. Mathematical representation of the complex wavefront surface fully describes its shape but at the same time obscures whether the performance of the optical system is good or poor. In this chapter, a series of practical quality metrics are defined. Metrics are typically a single number that distills the aberration data into a measureable quantity that can be used to specify the performance and quality of the system.