Analysis wavefront propagating in free space based on the Zernike polynomials and Gauss-Laguerre modes expansion

Abstract

The Zernike orthogonal polynomials are often used to describe the wavefront. The coefficients of the wavefront expansion in terms of Zernike polynomials allow us to determine the root-mean-square error of the deviation from the ideal wavefront. For visual assessment of image quality a spread point function is used. In this paper, we use the Fresnel transform to propagate the initial wavefront in free space and show how the coefficients of the Zernike polynomials and Gauss-Laguerre modes change. In modern ophthalmology, aberrometers are used to measure the wavefront distortions on the surface of elements of the optical system of a human eye. In this paper, we investigate the possibility of reconstructing the original field on the basis of the wavefront obtained at a certain distance.