PRIMARY ABERRATIONS OF A THIN LENS WITH DIFFERENT OBJECT AND IMAGE SPACE MEDIA

Results of our studies on the primary aberrations of a thin lens that has different object and image space media are presented. It is shown that the usual formalism for treatment of the primary aberrations of a thin lens in air can be extended to this case of unequal object and i mage space media by suitable redefinition of the shape factor and the conjugate variable. The inequality in refractive indices and dispersio n characteristics of the object and image space media gives rise to in teresting properties of the primary aberrations. The latter may be uti lized in the treatment of the analysis and synthesis of unconventional optical components. (C) 1998 Optical Society of America.