Difference between revisions of "Optical aberrations"

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(Petzval distortion or field curvature)
 
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Aberrations fall into two main categories: aberrations caused by wavelength variations (chromatic), and aberrations caused by the lens's spherical construction (these are known as Seidel's aberrations: spherical, coma, astigmatism, field curvature, and distortion) <ref>[http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/anatomy/aberrationhome.html http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/anatomy/aberrationhome.html]</ref>.
 
Aberrations fall into two main categories: aberrations caused by wavelength variations (chromatic), and aberrations caused by the lens's spherical construction (these are known as Seidel's aberrations: spherical, coma, astigmatism, field curvature, and distortion) <ref>[http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/anatomy/aberrationhome.html http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/anatomy/aberrationhome.html]</ref>.
  
[[Image:20.309 130822 ChromaticAberration.png|thumb|right|400 px|From fsu.edu <ref>[http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/anatomy/aberrations.html http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/anatomy/aberrations.html]</ref> Axial chromatic aberration and achromat doublet correction]]
 
 
===Chromatic aberration===
 
===Chromatic aberration===
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[[Image:20.309 130822 ChromaticAberration.png|thumb|right|400 px|From fsu.edu <ref>[http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/anatomy/aberrations.html http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/anatomy/aberrations.html]</ref> Axial chromatic aberration and achromat doublet correction]]
  
 
* Axial chromatic aberration is due to dispersion by the lens's medium whose index of refraction effectively varies with the light wavelength: the blue part of the spectrum is refracted to a greater extent than the red portion.
 
* Axial chromatic aberration is due to dispersion by the lens's medium whose index of refraction effectively varies with the light wavelength: the blue part of the spectrum is refracted to a greater extent than the red portion.
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* An achromatic doublet combination (the association of a converging lens with a weaker diverging lens) can correct chromatic aberrations for certain wavelengths.
 
* An achromatic doublet combination (the association of a converging lens with a weaker diverging lens) can correct chromatic aberrations for certain wavelengths.
  
[[Image:20.309 130822 SphericalAberration.png|thumb|right|300 px|Longitudinal and transverse spherical aberrations]]
 
 
===Spherical aberration===
 
===Spherical aberration===
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[[Image:20.309 130822 SphericalAberration.png|thumb|right|300 px|Longitudinal and transverse spherical aberrations]]
  
 
* Peripheral rays and axial rays have different focal points, because the former are actually refracted to a greater degree than the latter.
 
* Peripheral rays and axial rays have different focal points, because the former are actually refracted to a greater degree than the latter.
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* This effect significantly degrades the resolution of the lens because it affects the coincident imaging of points ''on'' and ''off'' the optical axis.
 
* This effect significantly degrades the resolution of the lens because it affects the coincident imaging of points ''on'' and ''off'' the optical axis.
  
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===Coma and astigmatism===
 
===Coma and astigmatism===
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[[Image:20.309 130828 Astigmatism.png|thumb|right|300 px|In coma and astigmatism, parallel off-axis ''oblique'' rays do not focus at one point in the image plane, but rather at distinct points in the sagittal and meridional planes, causing image distortion.]]
  
 
* Comatic aberration results in off-axis point objects appearing asymmetrical and taking a comet-like shape.  Comatic aberration is most commonly encountered when a microscope is out of alignment.
 
* Comatic aberration results in off-axis point objects appearing asymmetrical and taking a comet-like shape.  Comatic aberration is most commonly encountered when a microscope is out of alignment.
 
* Astigmatism engender ellipses or blurred lines as images of speciment points. Depending on the angle of the off-axis rays entering the lens, the line image may be oriented either tangentially or radially.
 
* Astigmatism engender ellipses or blurred lines as images of speciment points. Depending on the angle of the off-axis rays entering the lens, the line image may be oriented either tangentially or radially.
  
[[Image:20.309 130828 Astigmatism.png|thumb|right|300 px|In coma and astigmatism, parallel off-axis ''oblique'' rays do not focus at one point in the image plane, but rather at distinct points in the sagittal and meridional planes, causing image distortion.]]
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===Petzval distortion or field curvature===
 
===Petzval distortion or field curvature===
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* Instead of generating image points of a flat object onto a flat screen as we have idealized so far in ray tracing estimations, a simple lens focuses these image points onto a spherical surface, shaped as a curved bowl whose curvature, the Petzval curvature, is the reciprocal of the lens radius.
 
* Instead of generating image points of a flat object onto a flat screen as we have idealized so far in ray tracing estimations, a simple lens focuses these image points onto a spherical surface, shaped as a curved bowl whose curvature, the Petzval curvature, is the reciprocal of the lens radius.
  
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==References==
 
==References==
 
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<references />
  
 
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Latest revision as of 18:44, 16 September 2015

20.309: Biological Instrumentation and Measurement

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Optical aberrations

Considerations in choosing a lens

In practice, as the polychromatic nature of white light is taken into consideration, and as imaging conditions depart from the Gaussian optics approximations that have framed our representations so far, optical aberrations get introduced into images formed by lenses. Aberrations fall into two main categories: aberrations caused by wavelength variations (chromatic), and aberrations caused by the lens's spherical construction (these are known as Seidel's aberrations: spherical, coma, astigmatism, field curvature, and distortion) [1].

Chromatic aberration

From fsu.edu [2] Axial chromatic aberration and achromat doublet correction
  • Axial chromatic aberration is due to dispersion by the lens's medium whose index of refraction effectively varies with the light wavelength: the blue part of the spectrum is refracted to a greater extent than the red portion.
  • Lateral chromatic aberration manifests itself by a difference in magnification of blue vs. red images of white-light-illuminated objects, which causes color ringing at the outer regions of the field of view.
  • An achromatic doublet combination (the association of a converging lens with a weaker diverging lens) can correct chromatic aberrations for certain wavelengths.

Spherical aberration

Longitudinal and transverse spherical aberrations
  • Peripheral rays and axial rays have different focal points, because the former are actually refracted to a greater degree than the latter.
  • Spherical aberrations arise from the higher-than-first-order terms in the sin θ and cos θ expansions that become non-negligible as the incident light angle θ increases.
  • Spherical aberration causes the image to appear hazy or blurred and slightly out of focus.
  • This effect significantly degrades the resolution of the lens because it affects the coincident imaging of points on and off the optical axis.


Coma and astigmatism

In coma and astigmatism, parallel off-axis oblique rays do not focus at one point in the image plane, but rather at distinct points in the sagittal and meridional planes, causing image distortion.
  • Comatic aberration results in off-axis point objects appearing asymmetrical and taking a comet-like shape. Comatic aberration is most commonly encountered when a microscope is out of alignment.
  • Astigmatism engender ellipses or blurred lines as images of speciment points. Depending on the angle of the off-axis rays entering the lens, the line image may be oriented either tangentially or radially.







Petzval distortion or field curvature

Petzval distortion results in image curvature.
  • Instead of generating image points of a flat object onto a flat screen as we have idealized so far in ray tracing estimations, a simple lens focuses these image points onto a spherical surface, shaped as a curved bowl whose curvature, the Petzval curvature, is the reciprocal of the lens radius.







References

  1. http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/anatomy/aberrationhome.html
  2. http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/anatomy/aberrations.html