Theory and application of induced higher order color aberrations

Induced aberrations in general are higher-order aberrations caused by ray perturbations of lower order, picked up surface by surface in the preceding optical system. Therefore, induced aberration coefficients are depending on the cumulative preexisting aberrations in the system. In case of color aberrations, induced influences are already observable in the paraxial regime, since even paraxial rays are affected by dispersion. Hence, in every optical system small perturbations in ray heights and ray angles for paraxial rays of different wavelengths are present. These ray perturbations generate induced color aberration effects of higher-order. Here, different orders refer to the paraxial ray dependency on dispersion. The linear or 1st-order terms result in the well-known Seidel contributions of axial and lateral color, where any interaction of dispersion between different lenses is neglected. Starting at 2nd-order terms, induced color effects are present. In this thesis, an introduction on the basic idea of induced color aberrations is given, followed by a surface resolved analytical description for 2nd-order axial and lateral color as well as for the chromatic variations of the five Seidel aberrations. A differentiation between induced and intrinsic parts is derived and discussed. Illustrated by descriptive academic systems as well as by a complex microscopic design example, the importance and the influences of induced color aberrations for optical systems is demonstrated.