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Zernike Polynomial extraction of deformed optical surface

Ivar Kjelberg, CSEM sa

You will find hereby a COMSOL Multiphysics v4.2a Solid + Optimisation model extracting the first dozen Zernike polynomials from a deformed circular surface, expressed in RMS values.

In optics, the expressions of the deformations of an optical surface, such as a mirror under gravity or pressure loads, are often decomposed in Zernike orthogonal polynomial coefficients.

Unfortunately, there are several normalisation of these polynomials, the different optical programmes uses each there own normalisation, so the results should be carefully benchmarked against each particular softeware you use. And pls be aware of the loong formulas, these might still contain typos ;)

The present normalisation is the one from J.C.Wyant, 2003, "ZernikePolonymialsForTheWeb" that can be found under www.mpia.de /AO/...

Have fun COMSOLING

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User Comments


Mar 4, 2016 at 4:50pm UTC

This is an excellent model. Thanks for sharing it.

I have a question myself. If we replace w with z in the model, is it possible to find Zernikes for an undeformed but curved mirror surface?

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