Design of a Catadioptric System with Corrected Color Aberration and Flat Petzval Curvature Using a Graphically Symmetric Method

This paper describes a symmetric method for determining a combination of element power and optical material to design a catadioptric system with corrected color aberration and flat Petzval curvature. To graphically obtain the solutions, a glass chart containing the Abbe number, the refractive index, and the optical power, which are closely related to these aberrations, is suggested. First, we recompose an optical system as a doublet of the specific lens and an equivalent single lens, and then locate both lenses on lines that are symmetric to each other on a glass chart, through changing the lens parameters effectively. Utilizing this method, an achromatic catadioptric system with flat Petzval curvature is obtained.