Aberrations in fractional-Talbot images of periodic binary gratings

We discuss the ray-optical aberrations which appear in the fractional-Talbot image of a periodic binary grating with coherent illumination. First we examine the complex amplitude of an aberration-free imaging field at a fractional-Talbot plane. We then trace the path of a diffracted ray of specific order which contributes to the fractional-Talbot imaging. Next we formulate the focus-shift and third-order aberrations which arise from a focusing error and a fourth-order approximation of the path length, respectively. We then evaluate the amplitude and phase of an aberrated imaging field that are represented in terms of aberration functions. When the grating period decreases to approach the optical wavelength, the aberrations of lower-order rays are shown to be more influential on the fractional-Talbot imaging field than those of higher-order rays. The theory of aberration discussed here could be very useful in evaluating the fractional-Talbot image of a periodic binary grating.