Distorted wave front produced by a high-resolution projection optical system having rotationally symmetric birefringence

Abstract

The influence of birefringence caused by rotationally symmetric stress distribution in a high-resolution projection optical system is investigated. The general form of the pupil function is derived based on the Jones matrix calculation, expressing the wave front as a combination of the two orthogonal polarization components. Assuming a linearly polarized incident beam, it is found that the main polarization portion of the wave front exiting the projection lens has astigmatic aberration in the Seidel region and shows phase singularity at four pupil points at which the amplitude transmittance becomes zero.