Partially coherent far-field diffraction in the presence of primary astigmatism

Abstract

This paper deals with the study of intensity distributions and the encircled energy in the Fraunhofer diffraction patterns formed by an optical system with a circular aperture afflicted with primary astigmatism under partially space coherent illumination. The besinc form of the correlation function has been assumed for the mutual coherence function. Computed results are presented graphically in the midfocal plane to illustrate the degrading effects of various amounts of astigmatism on the image quality for several values of the coherence parameter. Peak intensity as a function of coherence parameter is also plotted.