Cascaded diffraction in optical systems. Part II: example calculations.

Real imaging optical systems are in any case finite in diameter and therefore limit the ray cones coming from the various object points. The truncation of the ray cones generates edge diffraction effects, which have an impact on the point spread function and therefore on the resolution of the system. Traditionally real calculations of the diffraction effects are mostly simplified by assuming a truncation in the exit pupil only. In this hybrid approach, the light propagation therefore can be calculated by raytrace first, and the more cumbersome diffraction calculated is only performed between exit pupil and image plane. To come to a better quantitative understanding of the validity of this approximation, a more refined model is developed in an adjacent publication. Some example calculations for real setups and an overview about the order of magnitude of the cascaded diffraction effects are worked out in this contribution.