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.