Optical design of systems with off-axis spherical mirrors

Abstract

The astigmatism in reflective imaging systems can be eliminated by a proper configuration. However, the spherical and coma are the main residual aberrations in third order theory, but the behavior of all aberrations is not yet fully The main aberration of classical off-axis reflecting systems is primary astigmatism. The astigmatism in off-axis spherical understood. Expressions for the wavefront aberrations in an off-axis spherical mirror are presented. These formulas are derived from the optical path difference between an ellipsoid and a sphere, assuming a relatively small pupil and a small angle of incidence as it will be described with detail. Using the principle of the optical path difference, we developed the mathematical expressions that describe the third order wavefront aberrations in a two spherical mirror system when the object is finite.