Abstract
The consistent application of computer-aided alignment technology could surmount aimlessness and significantly shorten the align period of complex optical systems. Wherein, the appropriate system image evaluation function is the primary condition to solve the system misalignment successfully. This paper first establishes the relationship between the amount of misalignment and the system aberration through mathematical modelling and then analyzes the relationship between Zernike coefficient, geometric aberration and system image quality in detail, proposes to construct a system image evaluation system using the idea of Zernike coefficient weighting to solve the problem of numerical instability and imprecision of the solutions caused by the direct selection of Zernike coefficients. Subsequently, the experimental alignment of an infrared optical system was performed using the optical system image quality evaluation method established in this paper. The alignment results showed that the RMS value of the system image quality improved by 24.8% under the same solving algorithm compares to the direct selection of the Zernike coefficient and the weighted Zernike coefficient as the system image quality evaluation function. Therefore, the application of the weighted Zernike coefficient-based optical system image evaluation function proposed in this paper is reasonable, feasible, and effective in the computer-aided alignment process.
Highlights
Optical instruments play an essential role in the exploration of micro and macro fields (Yang, 2005)
In the computer-aided alignment of the optical system based on the sensitivity matrix model, Zernike aberration coefficients are usually directly used as the evaluation function of the imaging quality of the system (Sun, Lv, Yao & Liu, 2014)
The alignment results show that the image quality evaluation function based on the weighted Zernike coefficient is reasonable, feasible, and effective, which can significantly improve the system align accuracy and obtain better imaging quality
Summary
Optical instruments play an essential role in the exploration of micro and macro fields (Yang, 2005). With the rapid development of computer technology and its wide application in different fields, optical researchers explore to use it in the process of optical alignment. Use it to process a large number of optical imaging detection data to determine the amount of misalignment and guide the alignment process of an optical system. In the computer-aided alignment of the optical system based on the sensitivity matrix model, Zernike aberration coefficients are usually directly used as the evaluation function of the imaging quality of the system (Sun, Lv, Yao & Liu, 2014). The alignment results show that the image quality evaluation function based on the weighted Zernike coefficient is reasonable, feasible, and effective, which can significantly improve the system align accuracy and obtain better imaging quality
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