OPTI 518

Introduction to Aberrations
Lecture #4

Prof. Jose Sasian

OPTI 518
 Airy’s pattern

Prof. Jose Sasian

OPTI 518
 Aberration
From the Latin, aberrare, to wander from; Latin, ab, away,

errare, to wander.

Symmetry properties

Prof. Jose Sasian

OPTI 518
 Early optics
• Telescope
• Microscope and polarizing microscope
• Camera obscura
• Human eye

• The understanding of imaging defects in

these optics lead to the discovery of
aberrations
Prof. Jose Sasian
OPTI 518
 Historical aspects
• How the concept of aberration was
developed?
• From the trees to the forest approach

Prof. Jose Sasian

OPTI 518
Prof. Jose Sasian
OPTI 518
 Dollond’s achromat
18th Century

• John Dollond
• Alexis Claude Clairaut
• Jean le Rond d’Alembert

Prof. Jose Sasian

OPTI 518
 Early contributions from England

• Thomas Young
• George Airy
• John Herschel
• Henry Coddington
• William Wollaston
Late 1700’s to early 1800’s
John Herschel by
Julia Margaret Cameron
Prof. Jose Sasian
OPTI 518
 Thomas Young’s sketch of the images produced
by oblique rays passing through a lens, and at
different distances from the lens (through focus).

~1801

Prof. Jose Sasian

OPTI 518
 Some early references of interest

T. Young, “On the mechanism of the eye,” Phil Trans Royal Soc Lond 1801; 91: 23–88 and plates.
G. B. Airy, “On a Peculiar Defect in the Eye and a Mode of Correcting It”, Trans. Camb. Phil. Soc. 2, 267-271 (1827).
J. R. Levene, “Sir George Biddell Airy, F.R.S. (1801-1892) and the Discovery and Correction of Astigmatism,”
Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London, Vol. 21, No. 2, pp. 180-199, Dec. 1966.
T. Smith, “The contributions of Thomas Young to geometrical optics, and their application to present-day questions,”
Proc Phys Soc B, 62:619–629, 1949.
D. A Atchison, and W. N. Charman, “Thomas Young’s contributions to geometrical optics,” Clin Exp Optom, 94: 4: 333–340, 2011.
R. Kingslake, “Who discovered Coddington’s equations?,” Optics & Photonics News 5, 20-23 (1994).
G. Airy, “Examination paper for Smith’s prize,” p-401, in “The Cambridge University Calendar,” J.&J. J. Deighton, Cambridge, 1831.
W. H. Wollaston “On an improvement in the form of spectacle lenses. Phil Mag 17, 327–329, 1804.
W. H. Wollaston, “On a periscopic camera obscura and microscope,” Phil Trans Roy Soc Lond , 102, 370–377. 1812.
G. Airy, “On the principles and construction of the achromatic eyepieces of telescopes, and on the achromatism of the microscope,”
Cambridge Philosophical Transactions,” v 2, 227-252, 1824.
G. Airy, “On the spherical aberration of the eyepieces of telescopes,” Cambridge Philosophical Transactions, v 2, 1-64, 1827.
H. Coddington, “A treatise on the reflexion and refraction of light,” Part I of “A system of optics,” Cambridge, 1829.
J. F. W. Herschel, “On the aberrations of compound lenses and object glasses,”
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, London, 222-267, (1821).
J. F. W. Herschel, “Light, 287 Aplanatic foci defined and investigated,” in ” Encyclopaedia Metropolitana,”
E. Smedley Ed., Vol. 4, p 386. William Clowes and Sons, London, 1845.

Prof. Jose Sasian

OPTI 518
 The discovery of aberrations
• Axial chromatic aberration
• Spherical aberration

• Astigmatism
• Coma

• Field curvature and distortion

Prof. Jose Sasian

OPTI 518
 Aberrations
• Spherical, coma, and astigmatism affect
image sharpness
• Field curvature and distortion change the
axial and lateral position of the point image
form the ideal position.

Prof. Jose Sasian

OPTI 518
 Contributions from Germany
• Gauss first-order theory, 1839
• Seidel third-order theory, 1856
• Schwarzschild fifth-order theory, 1905

Their papers are translated into English from the German

and are found in the class web site

Prof. Jose Sasian

OPTI 518
 Introduction to Aberrations
(Departures from ideal behavior)

• Central projection (collinear transformation) imaging as ideal

imaging (Gaussian and Newtonian equations)
• Aberrations as departures from ideal behavior
• Aberration metrics: wave deformation, angular aberration,
transverse ray aberration, longitudinal aberration
• Rays versus wave approach: combining aberrations

Prof. Jose Sasian

OPTI 518
 Symmetry
• Symmetry considerations are key to
understand aberrations
• Smoothness of physical properties:
– Surface
– Index of refraction

Prof. Jose Sasian

OPTI 518
 Ideal wavefront shape
• Ideally wavefronts and rays converge to
Gaussian image points. This implies that
ideally wavefronts must be spherical and
rays must be homocentric.

Prof. Jose Sasian

OPTI 518
 Wavefront deformation
. determination
• The wavefront deformation is determined by the use of a reference
sphere with center at the Gaussian image point and passing by the
exit pupil on-axis point.

Reference sphere
is centered at
Reference Gaussian image
sphere point

Deformed wavefront
Image plane

Exit pupil

Prof. Jose Sasian

OPTI 518
 Aperture vector and ray detail

Prof. Jose Sasian

OPTI 518
 Wavefront deformation

• Actual image degradation by an optical system implies

that Gaussian optics can not model accurately imaging.
In the wave picture for light propagation we notice that
geometrical wavefronts must be deformed from the ideal
spherical shape.

Prof. Jose Sasian

OPTI 518
 Basic Reasoning: on-axis
• An axially symmetric system can only have an axially symmetric
wavefront deformation for an object point on-axis. In its simplest
form this deformation can be quadratic or quartic with respect to the
aperture. If the reference sphere is centered in the Gaussian image
point then the quadratic deformation can not be present for the
design wavelength.

Prof. Jose Sasian

OPTI 518
 Basic Reasoning: off-axis

• For an object point that is off-axis the axial symmetry of the beam is
lost and is reduced to plane symmetry. Therefore for that off-axis
beam the wavefront deformation can have axial, plane, or double
plane symmetry.

Prof. Jose Sasian

OPTI 518
 Wavefront deformation classification
according to symmetry
• The simplest plane symmetric wavefront deformation shapes
represent the primary aberrations. These are:

• Spherical aberration Axially symmetric

• Coma Plane symmetric
• Astigmatism Double plane symmetric
• Field curvature Axially symmetric
• Distortion Plane symmetric

• Chromatic change of focus Axially symmetric

• Chromatic change of magnification Plane symmetric

Prof. Jose Sasian

OPTI 518
 Aberration forms:
graphics and symmetry considerations
Distortion

Focus Field curvature

Focus

Astigmatism

Spherical
aberration Coma

On-axis
Spherical
aberration

Off-axis
Prof. Jose Sasian
OPTI 518
 The wave aberration function

• The wave aberration function is a function of the field H and

aperture  vectors. H and  define uniquely a ray. Because this
function represents a scalar, which is the wavefront deformation at
the exit pupil, it depends on the dot product of the field and aperture
vectors. The assumed axial symmetry leads to a select set of terms.

W H ,    W k ,l , m H k  l cos m  H
j ,m,n


W H ,  ,    W200 H 2  W020  2  W111 H cos  
 W040  4  W131 H 3 cos   W222 H 2  2 cos 2  
 W220 H 2  2  W311 H 3  cos   W400 H 4 
 ...
Prof. Jose Sasian
OPTI 518
 Rotational invariants
and additional plane symmetry
   
H  H  Hx  Hy
2 2      x2   y2

 
H    H x x  H y  y

 
y H
'
 I
y 
'
E

Prof. Jose Sasian

OPTI 518
 The field and aperture vectors

• The field vector has its foot at the center of the object plane and the
aperture vector has its foot at the center of the exit pupil. Both are
normalized. For convenience we draw the Gaussian image of the
field vector in the image plane.
Aperture and field vectors
H
Field vector
Aperture vector


Optical axis

Image plane
Exit pupil

Prof. Jose Sasian

OPTI 518
 Second-order terms and piston
terms
• Note that defocus W020 and the change of scale W111 terms
may not be needed because Gaussian optics accurately
predict the location and size of the image. The piston
terms W200 and W400 represent a constant phase change
that does not degrade the image.

W H ,  ,    W200 H 2  W020  2  W111 H cos  

 W040  4  W131 H 3 cos   W222 H 2  2 cos 2  
 W220 H 2  2  W311 H 3  cos   W400 H 4 
 ...

Prof. Jose Sasian

OPTI 518
 Comments on aberrations
• Note that the algebraic order of the terms as a function of the field
and aperture vectors is zero, second, fourth-order, etc.
• To achieve sharp images with no mapping distortion an optical
system has its fourth-order aberrations zero or nearly zero.
• Some simple systems are designed by formulas that relate fourth-
order aberrations.
• The tip of the field vector indicates where a given ray originates
from.
• The tip of the aperture vector indicates where the ray intersects
the exit pupil plane.
• Note the organized way to present aberrations.
• Note that we are looking at a single wavefront located at the exit
pupil. Actually, there is a train of wavefronts and it is a dynamic
process of light propagation.
Prof. Jose Sasian
OPTI 518
 Review

The field vector is located at the object plane.

The aperture vector is located at the exit pupil plane.
For convenience we draw the Gaussian
image of the field vector in the image plane.
Prof. Jose Sasian
OPTI 518
 The construction of the aberration function

Prof. Jose Sasian

OPTI 518
Prof. Jose Sasian
OPTI 518
Prof. Jose Sasian
OPTI 518
 Aberration orders

Figure by
Roland Shack

Prof. Jose Sasian

OPTI 518
Prof. Jose Sasian
OPTI 518
 Aberration function using vector
notation

Prof. Jose Sasian

OPTI 518
 Transit time and wavefront
b
OPL   n  ds OPL   n  s
a

• The geometrical wavefront is defined as the locus of equal optical

path length (OPL). We have that n is the index of refraction and ds is
the element of arc length. In a homogenous media n is constant,
rays propagate in a straight line, and the optical path simplifies to a
sum; s represents the length of the rays as they go from one point to
the another. Insight about the OPL can be gained by dividing the
OPL by the speed of light. Since the index of refraction is the ratio of
the speed of light in vacuum c to the speed of light in the medium,
then the factor n/c is the inverse speed of light in the medium. The
term n/c is multiplied by the length s and the net result is a transit
time t. Thus the optical path length divided by the speed of light is
the transit time of a light particle traveling from point a to point b.
The wavefront is therefore the locus of all light particles with the
Prof. same transit time.
Jose Sasian
OPTI 518
 Primary aberrations

Prof. Jose Sasian

OPTI 518
 Hamilton’s characteristic function
1828
V  x1 , y1 , z1 , x0 , y0 , z0 
P1

 nds  V  x , y , z , x , y , z 
P0
1 1 1 0 0 0

V V V
 n11  n11  n1 1
x1 y1 z1

2 2 2
 V   V   V 
 
  
    n 2

 x1   y1   z1 

1

Prof. Jose Sasian

OPTI 518
 References
• W. R. Hamilton, “Theory of Systems of Rays,”
Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy, V. 15, 69-
174, 1828.
• W. R. Hamilton, “Supplement to an essay on the
Theory of Systems of Rays,” Transactions of the Royal
Irish Academy, V. 16, 1-61, 1830.
• M. Herzberger, “Modern Geometrical Optics,”
Interscience, Inc. New York, 1958.
• H. A. Buchdahl, “An Introduction to Hamiltonian
Optics,” Cambridge University Press, 1970.
• R. J. Pegis, “The modern development of Hamiltonian
optics,” in “Progress in Optics,” Ed. E. Wolf, Vol. I,
North-Holland Publishing Company-Amsterdam, 1965.

Prof. Jose Sasian

OPTI 518
 Summary
• Historical aspects
• Aberration definition
• Aberration metrics
• The aberration function
• From the general to the particular
• Hamilton’s work

Prof. Jose Sasian

OPTI 518