2012 Volume 33 Issue 1 Pages 8-13
Series expansion of wavefront aberration by Zernike polynomials and their orthonormalization process are described. We can easily calculate the Zernike series coefficients of any wavefront aberration, and can immediately count, for example, the contribution of each polynomial to the RMS (root mean square) wavefront error. We explain the merit of using Zernike polynomials, with analogy to the orthonormal system of two-dimensional planar vector space. It is convenient if Zernike polynomials are arranged in the so-called ‘fringe order,’ since the lower order polynomials are then equivalent to Seidel aberrations.
