Fourth- and sixth-order polarization aberrations of antireflection-coated optical surfaces

For single-layer antireflection-coated (ARC) optical surfaces, the first five derivatives of reflectance with respect to angle of incidence phi for the p and s polarizations are zero at normal incidence, whereas the first three derivatives of differential transmission phase shift D(t)(= D(tp)-D(ts)) with respect to phi are also zero at phi=0 . Consequently, ARC optical systems with numerical apertures of <0.7(phi<45 degrees ) exhibit fourth- and sixth-order polarization aberrations owing to retardance and diattenuation, respectively. Results for ARC Ge and ZnS surfaces are presented to illustrate these effects.