Performance analysis of a mirror by numerical iterative method

Zernike polynomials are generally used to predict the optical performance of a mirror. However, it can also be done by a numerical iterative method. As piston, tip, tilt, and defocus (P.T.T.F) aberrations can be easily removed by optical alignment, we iteratively used a rotation transformation and a paraboloid graph subtraction for removal of the aberrations from a raw deformation of the optical surface through a Finite Element Method (FEM). The results of a 30 cm concave circular mirror corrected by the iterative method were almost the same as those yielded by Zernike polynomial fitting, and the computational time was fast. In addition, a concave square mirror whose surface area is π was analyzed in order to visualize the deformation maps of a general mirror aperture shape. The iterative method can be applicable efficiently because it does not depend on the mirror aperture shape.