Enabling aberration retrieval of microlenses with the Extended Nijboer-Zernike (ENZ) diffraction theory

We propose a measurement approach that allows the determination of aberrations of a microlens by analyzing the through-focus intensity image it produces when the object is a point source. To simulate image formation by a microlens we apply the extended version of the Nijboer-Zernike diffraction theory (ENZ) that uses the Debye diffraction...

Vectorial aerial-image computations of three-dimensional objects based on the extended Nijboer–Zernike theory

We present details of a novel imaging algorithm based on the extended Nijboer–Zernike (ENZ) theory of diffraction. We derive integral expressions relating the electric field distribution in the entrance pupil of an optical system to the electric field in its focal region. The evaluation of these integrals is made possible by means of a highly...

General imaging of advanced 3D mask objects based on the fully-vectorial Extended Nijboer-Zernike (ENZ) theory

In this paper we introduce a new mask imaging algorithm that is based on the source point integration method (or Abbe method). The method presented here distinguishes itself from existing methods by exploiting the through-focus imaging feature of the Extended Nijboer-Zernike (ENZ) theory of diffraction. An introduction to ENZ-theory and its...

Extended Nijboer-Zernike (ENZ) based mask imaging: Efficient coupling of electromagnetic field solvers and the ENZ imaging algorithm

Results are presented of mask imaging using the Extended Nijboer-Zernike (ENZ) theory of diffraction. We show that the efficiency of a mask imaging algorithm, derived from this theory, can be increased. By adjusting the basic Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) algorithm, we can calculate the near field of isolated mask structures efficiently,...

Extended Nijboer–Zernike approach to aberration and birefringence retrieval in a high-numerical-aperture optical system

The judgment of the imaging quality of an optical system can be carried out by examining its through-focus intensity distribution. It has been shown in a previous paper that a scalar-wave analysis of the imaging process according to the extended Nijboer–Zernike theory allows the retrieval of the complex pupil function of the imaging system,...