Wide viewing angle skewed effect of the point spread function in a wavefront coding system

Abstract

The point spread function (PSF) of a wavefront coding (WFC) system with a cubic phase mask is analyzed with a wide viewing angle based on physical optics for what is believed to be the first time. Two coordinate transformations are made to generate a pupil function, from which we obtain the encoded PSF of the WFC system with defocus parameters W(020) and object angles alpha and beta. The encoded PSFs are further side extended as the object angles get wider. When alphabeta<0, the included angle ? of encoded PSF will skew to an obtuse angle. When alphabeta=0, ? remains orthogonal; when alphabeta>0, ? will skew to an acute angle. Furthermore, the effect of skew and side extension is even symmetric about W(020). As a result, the wide viewing angle has a bad effect on the imaging quality of the WFC system.