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I’m modeling microscope objectives with at NA > 0.5 and interested in knowing the PSF or alternatively how much energy is contained in the central lobe at a given beam radius. Depending on which direction rays are traced through the objective, I obtain a different amount of energy in the central lobe (either 65% or 84%), even when using the Huygens PSF and Diffraction Encircled Energy function.

 

For high NA (>0.5) lenses, I think much less than 84% of the energy should be in the central lobe (it doesn’t technically have a diffraction pattern unless the NA is low). How do we know whether Huygens PSF is working correctly? The results seem to depend a lot on the aperture setting, even when the rays traced in the Cross-Section look the same.

You’re saying that if you flip your system around and trace it backwards then the PSF changes?  That shouldn’t happen.  There’s probably some detail different in the setup, like ray aiming or vignetting. 
 

 


To clarify: “That shouldn’t happen”, I mean the amount of energy inside the first minimum won’t change.  Of course the size of the PSF will scale with the mag. 


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