Synthesis of filters for specified axial irradiance by use of phase-space tomography

A procedure for designing pupil filters for applications where specified ax ial responses are required is developed. The method is based on the mathema tical relationship between the axial impulse response of a system and the W igner distribution function (WDF) associated to its pupil function. The des ired axial il radiance, which can also have a predefined behavior depending on spherical aberration, is used to obtain this WDF by tomographic reconst ruction. The synthetic pupil is retrieved from this distribution. (C) 2001 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.