OTF-based optimization criteria for automatic optical design

Optimization techniques for lens design require that some criterion, or figure of merit, is chosen to describe the performance of the optical system. This study is concerned with systems where the true criterion is the diffraction optical transfer function (OTF). Recent investigations [1] have shown that the geometrical approximation to the diffraction OTF is a valid criterion for OTF optimization for all practical ranges of aberration size and spatial frequency. This paper gives details of these investigations, and compares the geometric criterion with other optimization criteria. It will be shown that in most cases the geometric criterion is markedly superior.