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  • The Minimum Modulation Curve as a tool for specifying optical performance: application to surfaces with mid-spatial frequency errors
Title: The Minimum Modulation Curve as a tool for specifying optical performance: application to surfaces with mid-spatial frequency errors
There are a variety of common situations in which specification of a onedimensional modulation transfer function (MTF) or two orthogonal profiles of the 2D MTF are not adequate descriptions of the image quality performance of an optical system. These include systems with an asymmetric on-axis impulse response, systems with off-axis aberrations, systems with surfaces that include mid-spatial frequency errors, and freeform systems. In this paper, we develop the concept of the Minimum Modulation Curve (MMC). Starting with the two-dimensional MTF in polar form, the minimum MTF for any azimuth angle is plotted as a function of the radial spatial frequency. This can be presented in a familiar form similar to an MTF curve and is useful in the context of guaranteeing that a given MTF specification is met for any possible orientation of spatial frequencies in the image. In this way, an MMC may be of value in specifying the required performance of an optical system. We illustrate application of the MMC using profile data for surfaces with midspatial frequency errors. © 2019 Optical Society of America under the terms of the OSA Open Access Publishing Agreement  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1822049 1338877
PAR ID:
10161248
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Optics express
Volume:
27
Issue:
18
ISSN:
1094-4087
Page Range / eLocation ID:
25551-25559
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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