For this investigation of coma, we use a plano-convex lens as described by the following input file: 2 1.0 1.5 -5.0 150.0 1.0 1.00 10.0 1.0e20 1.0 The on-axis focus is given by par_ray cxpl 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.1 Rays intersect at (x,y) = (298.333295, 0.000000) Now, putting the screen at 298.333295, we find the following focus characteristics as a function of beam offset: offset focal point + screen pos. - screen pos. 1.0 298.329465 0.000013 -0.000013 5.0 298.236595 0.001612 -0.001612 10.0 297.946009 0.012936 -0.012936 20.0 296.778059 0.104538 -0.104538 From this we clearly see the spherical aberration kicking in, but no coma, as the screen position offsets are perfectly symmetric. Now let's try an angular offset of 0.05: par_ray cxpl 0.0 0.0 0.05 0.1 298.333295 Rays intersect at (x,y) = (296.989172, 14.932565) Setting the screen to 296.989172, and comparing the screen positions to the nominal 14.932565. We get the following: offset x-inter y-inter +screen pos. -screen pos. 1.0 296.985354 14.932296 -0.000088 -0.000063 5.0 296.892773 14.925763 -0.003517 -0.000288 10.0 296.603090 14.905306 -0.020601 0.005307 20.0 295.438723 14.822831 -0.135867 0.073513 The + and - screen positions are relative to the nominal value. We can see by the migration of the x-intercept of the two rays that we have spherical aberration in addition ot the (corrected-for) field curvature. But we also have coma: we see this as a shift in the average position on the screen (toward the negative). This is apparrent from the beginning (small offsets), but is eventually somewhat compensated by spherical aberration. But the average of the two rays on the screen defnitely walks downward. Now we go to an angular offset of 0.10: par_ray cxpl 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.1 Rays intersect at (x,y) = (293.013084, 29.466168) Setting the screen to 293.013084, and comparing screen positions to 29.466168, we get: offset x-inter y-inter +screen pos. -screen pos. 1.0 293.009302 29.465637 -0.000159 -0.000133 5.0 292.917589 29.452765 -0.005315 -0.002072 10.0 292.630614 29.412456 -0.027855 -0.001841 20.0 291.477002 29.249923 -0.165683 0.044582 Now the effect is more exaggerated: the negative comatic aberration persists longer, and the spherical aberration does less to smear out the effect. The effect, in both offset cases, evolves dramatically as a function of offset (double the offset and see a huge increase in the effect). On the whole, correcting for field curvature, this lens still displays spherical aberration (focus shifts inward for larger offsets, and screen sees resulting blur). But we also definitely see coma. The offset on the screen is systematically negative, and rapidly increases its negativity as a function of offset. This is the signature of coma. To evaluate the degree of blur, we compare the offsets to the focal length of approximately 300 units. Using the +/- 20 unit displacement (for an f/7.5 lens), we see that on-axis blur is at the 0.1 scale, or 0.0003 radians, so that we could resolve 3 cm at 100 m. By the time we get to an angle 5.7 degrees off-axis, the outer rays have walked 0.06 units off the small-offset focus, almost doubling the blur effect from spherical aberration (on-axis blur).