Diffraction images of extended circular targets in presence of coma

Abstract

The intensity distribution in the diffraction images of extended circular targets in the paraxial receiving plane has been evaluated in presence of third order coma using the transfer function approach. Results presented graphically are studied to bring out the degrading effects of coma on the image quality using various sizes of the circular targets. The loss of rotational symmetry in the resulting images and the shift of the position of the principal maximum with respect to the centre of the aberration free image of target in various azimuths are investigated for various amounts of coma.