PRIMARY ABERRATIONS OF THIN PLANAR SURFACE LENSES

By using the Rayleigh-Sommerfeld diffraction formula of the first kind for the two-dimensional case, the impulse response of a thin planar lens is obtained and the influence of primary aberrations is considered. Respective degrading factors are recognized and a two-dimensional diffraction theory of aberrations in the Seidel approximation is presented. The influence of the material parameters and the geometry of the thin planar lens on the respective aberrations is considered. It is shown that in several cases, not only spherical aberration but also field curvature is of concern. The thin planar lens as an imaging system and as a Fourier transformer is considered and two apertures - rectangular and Gaussian - are compared.