Glossary of Optical Design Terms

The following is a glossary of terms common to (and peculiar to) the field of lens design. A new lens designer might well profit from a thorough perusal of this list, since the jargon of lens design may differ from that of physics or even basic optics.

Abbe V-number The reciprocal relative dispersion of an optical material. For visual work V = (nd − 1)/(nFnC), where d, F, and C indicate the Fraunhofer wavelengths—0.5876, 0.4861, and 0.6563 μm. Often called V-value or v-value.

Abbe sine condition A condition where magnification is constant across the aperture and coma near the axis is zero. Paraxial magnification (m = u/u′) and trigonometric magnification (M = sin U/sin U′) should be equal, so that (u′ · sin ...

Get Modern Lens Design, 2nd Edition now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.