Vini Mahajan’s recent publication has a wonderful description of orthonormal polynomials, quite useful in the analysis of optical systems with various entrance pupils. It’s not easy to find all of this material contained in a single book. It should be on the bookshelf of anyone studying or working in optical design, optical testing or wave aberrations.
The first chapter covers the fundamentals of image formation and the second chapter describes wave aberrations. Chapters 3 to 11 use orthonormal polynomials to explain the wave aberrations of optical systems with non-circular, annular or apodized circular pupils. Chapter 12 delves into the circle Zernike polynomials and their relation to the orthonormal polynomials for circular and annular apertures. Anyone planning to use Zernike polynomials for wavefront representation should read chapter 12; the author describes common pitfalls when they are used for non-circular pupils. Chapter 13 studies the wave aberrations of anamorphic systems and 14 the numerical wavefront analysis.
Review by Daniel Malacara-Hernández, Centro de Investigaciones en Optica, Leon, Mexico.
The opinions expressed in the book review section are those of the reviewer and do not necessarily reflect those of OPN or OSA.