How the Abbe Sine Condition impacts optical designs

Figure 1. Schematics of Abbe Sine Condition.  Image from Small, Alex. (2018). American Journal of Physics, 86(7), 487–494.

When making first order optical design calculations, most engineers use parameters based on paraxial (or ideal) systems. That is, lenses in which the chief rays are very close to the optical axis. However, that’s not always the case, and as we move away from paraxial optics conditions, the presence of aberrations has a greater impact […]