Computer generated hologram null test of a freeform optical surface with rectangular aperture

In null computed generated hologram (CGH) test of optical elements, fitting method is needed in null CGH design to generate continuous phase function from the ray-traced discrete phase data. The null CGH for freeform testing usually has a deformed aperture and a high order phase function, because of the aberrations introduced by freeform wavefront propagation. With traditional Zernike polynomial fitting method, selection of an orthogonal basis set and choosing number of terms are needed before fitting. Zernike polynomial fitting method is not suitable in null CGH design for freeform testing; a novel CGH design method with cubic B-spline interpolation is developed. For a freeform surface with 18 × 18 mm² rectangular aperture and 630 μm peak-to-valley undulation, the null CGH with a curved rectangular aperture is designed by using the method proposed. Simulation and experimental results proved the feasibility of the novel CGH design method.