Zernike surface contributions as an assisting tool for designing freeform optical systems

The application of freeform elements in optical systems increases the number of design variables. In order to use the additional degrees of freedom most efficiently for correcting the system, the optimization process requires a guidance from the lens designer. The knowledge of aberrations generated in the system provides insights for selecting the best starting configuration as well as for choosing the position of the freeform element. In this work we use a new numerical method [Oleszko et al., JOSAA Vol. 34(10), 1856 (2017)] to study surface-by-surface contributions to the total wave aberration of freeform optical systems. Surface contributions are divided due to their origin into intrinsic, induced and transfer components. The study of intrinsic and induced effects assists in finding design solutions corrected for aberrations of orders higher than the fourth in the expansion of the wave aberration function. In contrast to the analytical approach, the method does not incorporate the field dependency into the wave aberrations and the error of the chief ray is studied separately. That allows to visualize the distortion of the image grid at the intermediate image planes.

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