The influence of the sampling dots on the analysis of the wave front aberration by using the covariance matrix method

The covariance matrix method is a simple method for solving the Zernike polynomial with the higher fitting precision. In this paper, it was used to analyze the several optical wave fronts of the fine polished aluminum disk surface captured by a Twyman-Green interferometer system. We had found that the PV (peak-to-valley) and rms (root-mean-square) values of the wave front aberration changes with changing the Zernike term and the expressions for the several optical wave fronts with the different sampling dots were wrong. By analyzing the relations among the condition number of the coefficients matrix, the Zernike term, and the number of the sampling dots, it was indicated that the number of the sampling dots had only reduced the fluctuation the PV and the rms value while the Zernike term increases, but did not change the case that the expressions for the wave front aberration were wrong when the Zernike term is larger than 14, especially when the number of the sampling dots is less. Such an analysis will be valuable in solving the Zernike polynomial for the wave front aberration analysis by using the covariance matrix method in optical testing.