Photonics Dictionary

Not spherical; an optical element having one or more surfaces that are not spherical. The spherical surface of a lens may be slightly altered so as to reduce spherical aberration. Aspheric surfaces...

An optical system having one or more lens or mirror components that have nonspherical surfaces. These surfaces, whether reflecting or refracting, serve to advance or retard the incident wavefront,...

An aspheric lens is a type of lens whose surface profiles deviate from the traditional spherical shape. Unlike spherical lenses, which have a constant curvature across their surfaces, aspheric lenses...

An aspheric mirror is an optical mirror surface that deviates from the shape of a perfect sphere, having a non-spherical surface profile. Unlike traditional spherical mirrors, which have a curved...

Freeform mirrors refer to reflective optical components that deviate from traditional symmetric or rotationally symmetric shapes, such as spheres or paraboloids. Unlike conventional mirrors, which...

A lens used in the optical testing of an aspheric surface. It converts a spherical wavefront into one that precisely matches the surface under test. When the wavefront is reflected from that surface,...

Seidel aberrations refer to a set of monochromatic aberrations in optical systems, named after the German mathematician and physicist Ludwig von Seidel. These aberrations describe deviations from...

Spherical aberration is an optical aberration that occurs when light rays passing through a lens or curved optical surface do not converge or diverge to a single focal point. Instead of focusing to a...