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...

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,...