Modeling light interference figures and isogyres of uniaxial and biaxial birefringent optical elements

Using polarization fields, light interference figures and isogyres of some uniaxial and biaxial birefringent optical elements are modeled. The effects of diattenuation, and linear and circular birefringence are included, and the Airy spiral is displayed for various cases. The two branches of the Airy spiral are shown to separate and surround separately the melatopes in the case of biaxial elements with linear and circular birefringence. A connection and discussion with the aberration field of astigmatism, in particular binodal, is presented. © 2021 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE).Immediate accessThis item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]

Control of linear astigmatism aberration in a perturbed axially symmetric optical system and tolerancing

Linear astigmatism aberration is undesirable because it rapidly degrades image quality. We discuss some techniques to control and mitigate this aberration, and provide a comparison of lens systems that have been desensitized for linear astigmatism aberration. © 2021 by the author. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.Open access journalThis item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]

Optimizing trefoil phase plates design for color wavefront coding

Wavefront coding refers to the use of a phase modulating element in conjunction with deconvolution to extend the depth of focus of an imaging system. The coding element is an asymmetrical phase plate shape, for most applications in the form of a trefoil or a cubic polynomial. Phase plates with trefoil shape generate not only the desired amount of trefoil aberration but also spherical aberration. It has been recently shown that a wavefront coding based optical system shows high tolerance to spherical aberration for monochromatic images; however, the depth of focus is considerably shortened for color images. In this work, we will show how to modify the shape of a phase plate in order to optimize its performance for color imaging. The design parameters of the phase plate are obtained by minimizing a merit function by means of genetic algorithms developed for this purpose. The evaluation of the optical characteristics of the phase plates for a feedback with the optimization algorithm is obtained by Zemax. Results will be illustrated by numerical simulations of color images.Spanish Ministry of Economia y Competitividad [FIS2016-77319-C2-1-R]; FEDER; Ministerio de Educaci on Cultura y Deporte [PRX17/00105]; Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologia (CONACyT) [714741]This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]