Model of radial basis functions based on surface slope for optical freeform surfaces

The model fitting degree of optical freeform surfaces is of utmost design importance. We develop a model with radial basis functions based on the surface slope (RBF-slope) for optical freeform surfaces with asymmetric structures. The RBF-slope model improves the basis-function distribution for circular apertures and establishes a relationship between shape factor and local surface slope, which provides the model with better fitting ability than the conventional RBF model (RBF-direct); fitting experiments for off-axis conic surfaces, “bumpy” paraboloids, and the design of a single mirror magnifier demonstrate the efficacy of our approach. Our method can effectively improve aberration balancing of optical freeform surfaces, resulting in high-quality imaging.