Design of Hartmann type null screens for testing a plano-convex aspheric lens with a CCD sensor inside the caustic

A new method to design Hartmann type null screens to test either qualitatively or quantitatively fast plano-convex aspherical lenses is presented. We design both radial and square null screens that produce arrays of circular spots uniformly distributed at predefined planes, considering that the CCD sensor is solely placed inside the caustic region. The designs of these null screens are based on knowledge of the caustic by refraction and on exact ray tracing. The null screens also serve to improve the alignment in optical systems.