Asymmetrically Apodized Optical Systems with Phase and

Amplitude Filters: The Two Dimensional Case with

Circular Aperture
A Naresh kumar Reddy1, R Komala1, M Keshavulu Goud2 and S Lacha Goud1
1
Department of Physics, College of Science, Osmania University, Hyderabad, India
2
Department of Physics, Nizam College, Osmania University, Hyderabad, India

Abstract. To realize direct image of faint object which is in the close proximity of very bright object could be
technologically feasible by introducing asymmetric apodization. The point spread function (PSF) of an optical system
with asymmetric apodization has been found to possess a so-called good side and a bad side. The good-side has
decreased side lobes whereas the bad-side shows increased side lobes. This has been observed when the aperture is
divided into three parts viz. two semi-circular edge rings and a central region with an apodizer. The asymmetry in the
PSF has been found to increase with the width of the edge rings and is seen to decrease with the increased apodization of
the central region.

Key words: Fourier transform, Point spread function, Asymmetric apodization, resolution.
PACS: 42.25 Fx, 42.30 Kq, 42.79Ci

INTRODUCTION as ‘bad-side’. In fact, the good-side was obtained at the

In order to improve the results of an optical system,
there are two methods namely modification of the
optical system and the Post detection processing. The
former one involves optimization of the optical system
itself and the latter involves operations on the systems
output. In many situations followed the first one by
changing the pupil function with suitable apodization.
Apodisation is the technique that modifies the imaging
properties of an optical system such that the system
impulse response does not show ringing by
manipulating its entrance pupil [1]. It is one aspect of
the wide range technique of spatial filtering. Several
promising approaches have been developed and
intensively studied in the past few years. An excellent
review on the apodization technique has been
presented by Jaquinot and Roizen-Dossier [2].
In most of the earlier studies [3-5] on apodization,
the point spread function, in general, were found to be
symmetrical with both sides of the origin identical as
to the position of minima, positions and intensities of
various maxima etc. In 1991 Cheng and Siu [6],
introduced asymmetric apodization and succeed in
achieving low side lobes and a sharp central peak on
one side termed as ‘good side’ and a broader central
peak with enhanced side-lobes on the other side named
cost of the bad-side. In further continuation of their
work [7] they obtained improved side-lobe
suppression. Their works can be considered as a major
breakthrough in apodization studies.
In a previous paper [8] we investigated the
focusing properties of asymmetrically apodized optical
systems for a slit aperture and we showed how to
achieve low side lobes and steep principal maximum
simultaneously. In the present paper we extend the
one-dimensional case to the two-dimensional one with
circular aperture. As in the one-dimensional problem
we will use the same complex pupil filters. Our work
extends the earlier work of Cheng and Siu [6] whose
circular aperture central region is unapodized.
THEORY
Figure 1 shows the structure of the complex pupil
filter. Two semi-circular edge rings of certain width b
and the central circular region of radius are the
three regions of a circular aperture of unit radius have
been considered. The transmittances of the three zones
are 1, 1 and and the
corresponding phases are , and 0. Here,  is the
normalized radial co-ordinate in the pupil plane and
is the apodization parameter controlling the degree

Optics: Phenomena, Materials, Devices, and Characterization

AIP Conf. Proc. 1391, 341-343 (2011); doi: 10.1063/1.3643543
© 2011 American Institute of Physics 978-0-7354-0960-6/$30.00

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of non-uniformity of the transmittance over the RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
specified zone of the pupil. The range values it takes
are . It is clear that for  = 0, the The effects of asymmetric apodization on intensity
transmittance of that zone is unity and for non zero PSF have been investigated for various values of the
values of  the zone transmittance is non-uniform. widths of the edge-rings, azimuthal angle and the
transmittance of the central region of the circular
aperture. The results have been obtained from equation
(4) by employing a twelve-point Gauss quadrature
numerical method of integration. An iterative method
has been developed and applied to find the positions
and intensities of first minima and maxima on either
side of the diffraction center. However, we will limit
ourselves to reporting the results only on the good side
which is the half part of the complete diffraction
pattern, because of its importance, the basic concept
FIGURE 1. Structure of complex pupil filter and the main result of the problem.
Figure 2 shows the shifting of central peak position
The complex field amplitude on the focal region (CPP) as a function of edge ring width b for different
due to a monochromatic object point is the Fourier values of apodization parameter . The peak is moving
transform of the pupil function. In this case the away from the diffraction center as b is increasing
normalized complex field amplitude on the from 0 to 0.2 for all values of . Further the magnitude
focal region is equal to the sum of the three of shifting increases with the degree of apodization.
components: The position and intensity of first minimum and
maximum are depicted in Fig 3 and 4 for various
(i) the diffraction field amplitude contributing by the values of . Figure 3 reveals that the first minimum
circular aperture of radius : moves first away from and then towards the diffraction
head with the edge ring width b as  increases from 0
to 0.8. At the same time the first side lobe intensity
(1) showing the reverse trend. This can be seen in detail
where from Fig 4. From these two figures it is clear that the
optimum values of b and  are 0.04 and 0.4,
(ii) the diffraction field amplitude contributing by the
respectively, to get low side lobes and a steep principal
left semicircular ring: maximum. One of the main image quality criterion is
full width at half maximum (FWHM) is depicted in
Fig 5 for various amount of apodization parameter . It
(2) shows that as the ring width b increases from 0 to 0.2
(iii) the diffraction field amplitude contributing by the FWHM also increases and then decreases with a ring
g semicircular ring:
right g width. Further the decrease in it boosting by the degree
of apodization.
The focusing properties of designed complex pupil
filters are depicted in Figures 6 and 7 in terms of point
(3) spread function of asymmetrically apodized optical
Hence, the field amplitude in the image plane can system. The PSF curves represented graphically in Fig
be written as 6 are for various degrees of the apodization parameter
 in the central circular region when the edge ring
(4) width is b = 0.04. It can be seen from this figure that
on the left half axis (Bad side) the central peak is
The intensity PSF I(u) which is the real measurable broadened, shifted, and lowered while on the right half
quantity can be obtained by taking the squared axis (Good side) the central peak is narrower. It tells
modulus off . Thus, us that the good side in which low side-lobes and a
(4) steep central peak are achieved is at the cost of
worsening its counterpart. In order to have low side
lobes and steep central lobe on good side, the optimum
values of b and b are 0.04 and 0.4, respectively. To say
this there is clear evidence providing by the Fig 6. Fig

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 7 shows one more interesting feature of this type pupil
filters that the super resolution phenomenon by
creating dark zone between central maximum and first
side lobe with which it is enable to see very faint
object in the proximity of bright object.
FIGURE 2. Shifting of central lobe from the center of
diffraction with edge ring width for different values of
apodization parameter. FIGURE 3. Variation of first
minimum position with the edge ring width b for different
values of apodization parameter.
FIGURE 4. Variation of first side-lobe intensity with the
edge strip width b for various values of the apodization
parameter. FIGURE 5. Full width at half maximum as a
function of an edge ring width b for different values of the
apodization parameter.
FIGURE 6. Intensity psf curves for different amount of
apodization of a central circular region in the presence of
anti phase apodization of edge rings. FIGURE 7. Effect of
central region apodization on intensity profile.
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CONCLUSIONS
Finally we may conclude that our investigation
aimed at high contrast and improved resolution has
been carried out by considering three level complex
pupil filters. By performing asymmetric apodization
we obtained asymmetric PSF with good side having
reduced side-lobes and a steep central maximum. This
is achieved at the cost of the bad side with enhanced
lobes. In this way we succeeded in achieving high
contrast and improved resolution. The asymmetry
increases with the width of the edge-rings and
promoting by the increase in the degree apodization of
the central circular region. The PSF shifts to the side
which has higher side-lobes i.e. to the bad-side.
REFERENCES
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