Edge imaging characteristics of aberrated coherent optical systems by edge masking of circular apertures

In this paper, attempts have been made to study the joint effects of apodization and aperture masking on the diffraction images of coherently illuminated straight edge. The Edge-Ringing, Edge-Shift and Edge-Eradient of the edge images have been evaluated for different values of apo-dization using edge masking of circular apertures. We have considered rotationally symmetric, aberrated coherent optical system. These investigations have lead to the use of certain pupil functions in conjunction with optimal apodizers to assess the quality of edge images. Any obstruction placed in the light path of an optical system prevents waves from a portion of the wavefront in reaching the focal zone. This results in the change in the light flux at every point of the diffraction pattern. This is in turn, depends on the shape and size of the obstruction.