So, I'm doing some research into monochromatic aberrations and want to pose a topic for discussion. I'm sure I'm only touching the tip of the iceberg with this, so hopefully someone (Darryl, maybe) can comment.
When we all initially learn about aberrations (especially those who are "self-taught"), we are given the names of the five Seidel aberrations and usually it's left at that. I can appreciate the optical profundity of Zernike's polynomials, but are these actually used in practical application for
ophthalmic devices? As far as I've gathered when looking at portions of the unit disc (ie: when using limited data points), orthogonality of Zernike polynomials is not maintained as it is otherwise, which would be counter-intuitive to the concept or draw of the polynomials(?). Whereas apparently, they are useful when addressing aspheric surfaces because you can determine higher-order terms without the need for the lower-order terms, unlike the Seidel polynomial (is this correct?)
Apparently, beyond third-order aberrations, even the loose relationship between Seidel and Zernike falls aparts. So are there people, firstly, accounting for or compensating for these aberrations, and what do you use?
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