title: Generalized ray-transfer matrix for an optical element having an arbitrary wavefront aberration.
abstract: A generalized ray-transfer matrix for describing the action of an optical element having an arbitrary wavefront aberration is obtained. In this generalized ray-transfer matrix, the action of the aberrated optical element is represented by the product of radial ray-transfer matrices and tangential ray-transfer matrices. The refraction angle of an incident ray is calculated from the gradient of the wavefront aberration at the point of incidence, and the radial and tangential ray-transfer matrices directly use the gradient as a matrix component. To show the validity of the generalized ray-transfer matrix, intercept heights from a spot diagram are calculated with the generalized ray-transfer matrix and compared with those calculated with commercial ray-tracing software.
authors.affiliation: Advanced Photonics Research Institute, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, Buk-gu, South Korea.
authors.forename: Tae Moon
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Jeong
authors.forename: Do-Kyeong
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Ko
authors.forename: Jongmin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lee