Geometrical irradiance changes in a symmetric optical System

The concept of the aberration function is extended to define two functions that describe the light irradiance distribution at the exit pupil plane and at the image plane of an axially symmetric optical system. Similar to the wavefront aberration function, the irradiance function is expanded as a polynomial, where individual terms represent basic irradiance distribution patterns. Conservation of flux in optical imaging systems is used to derive the specific relation between the irradiance coefficients and wavefront aberration coefficients. It is shown that the coefficients of the irradiance functions can be expressed in terms of wavefront aberration coefficients and firstorder system quantities. The theoretical results-These are irradiance coefficient formulas-Are in agreement with real ray tracing.