11.4. THE π –σ EQUATION AND SPHERICAL ABERRATION 421
Application 11.3.
1. Use different values of n and observe that spherical aberration may not be
eliminated for real objects and images.
2. Assume x
0
values for virtual images and find positive and negative values for
the LSA. Therefore, for this case, spherical aberration may be eliminated.
11.4 THE π–σ EQUATION AND SPHERICAL
ABERRATION
We now study whether spherical aberration can be removed when using a special
choice of parameters. We introduce the parameters π (position factor) and σ
(shape factor),
π (x
ii
+ x
0
)/(x
ii
− x
0
) and σ (r
2
+ r
1
)/(r
2
− r
1
). (11.24)
Using Eqs. (11.18) and (11.19) we may write
1/x
0
−(π + 1)/2f and 1/x
i
(1 − π )/2f (11.25)
1/r
1
(σ + 1)/{2f (n − 1)} and 1/r
2
(σ − 1)/{2f (n − 1)}. (11.26)
Introducing the expressions of Eqs. (11.24) to (11.26) into Eq. (1.17) we get
− 1/x
0
+ 1/x
iisph
(n − 1)(1/r
1
− 1/r
2
) + [ρ
2
/f
3
]{Aσ
2
+ Bσπ + Cπ
2
+ D}, (11.27)
where we abbreviated
A (n + 2)/{8n(n − 1)
2
} B (n +1)/{2n(n − 1)} (11.28)
C (3n +2)/(8n) D n
2
/{8(n − 1)
2
}. (11.29)
We may look at Eq. (11.27) as the thin lens equation plus a correction term. To
study whether spherical aberration can be removed we look at the correction
term
Y [ρ
2
/f
3
]{Aσ
2
+ Bσπ + Cπ
2
+ D}. (11.30)
When Y is equal to zero, spherical aberration is eliminated.
In FileFig 11.4 a graph is shown for f 10, n 1.5, ρ 4, and x
0
4.
There are Y values smaller than zero and, using these parameters, spherical
aberration may be eliminated. In FileFig 11.4 one may study an example for
positive and negative values of x
0
and ρ between 1 and 4. When Y shows negative
values, spherical aberration may be eliminated.