In every real optical system, the light beam or ray bundle is laterally limited by diaphragms or lens boundaries. Therefore, from a rigorous point of view, a diffraction calculation of the point spread function by assuming a truncation at the exit pupil is a simplification. If several boundaries at different $z$z positions inside a system truncate the rays, cascaded diffraction occurs and the field in the exit pupil is modified in amplitude and phase by the edge diffraction effects at all relevant boundaries. A simple model for a fast estimation of these effects and a rule of thumb for real optical systems are worked out in this work.

Cascaded diffraction in optical systems. Part I: simulation model.

The intensity distribution in the image space of an optical system, due to an arbitrary object, is calculated by solving the problem of the propagation of a monochromatic light wave through the system. The system is assumed to be cylindrically symmetric with an arbitrary number of spherical surfaces. Analytic techniques based on the principle of stationary phase are used, and several advantages over ray-tracing techniques are obtained.

http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0022-3727/7/6/310/pdf

Eero Byckling

Papers

Wave propagation in optical systems