Optimal Management of Fabrication and Assembly Tolerance of Optical Systems by Analyzing Its Influence on Zernike Coefficients

A new method is proposed for optimal management of the fabrication and assembly tolerance of optical systems. The practical utility of the method is shown by applying it to a wide-angle anamorphic IR optical system. In this method the wavefront error of an optical system is expressed in terms of Zernike polynomials, and the sensitivity of the expansion coefficients to the variation of design parameters is analyzed. Based on this sensitivity analysis, the optimal tolerances of the fabrication parameters are determined and the best compensators for the assembly process are selected. By using this method, one can accurately predict with good confidence the best possible performance of a completed optical system in practice. Keywords: Fabrication and assembling tolerance, Tolerancing, Zernike coefficients, Optical performanceOCIS codes: (220.0220) Optical design and fabrication; (110.0110) Imaging systems; (110.3080) Infrared imaging