Cost-based tolerancing of optical systems

When designing an optical system it is generally accepted that it is too costly to generate the entire Hessian for every iteration of an optimizer. However, the Hessian also is useful in tolerance analysis for which it needs to be calculated only once. We propose using the Hessian as part of a cost-based tolerancing procedure. Considerations for the general implementation of the proposed ideas are discussed, and the utility of this approach is demonstrated by way of an example. In the example optimal manufacturing tolerances are determined for a doublet. As expected, the optimal tolerances change as quantities such as the requisite image quality for finished systems, manufacturing yields, and relative expenses of meeting given tolerances are varied. (C) 2000 Optical Society of America OCIS codes: 220.4830, 080.2740, 080.2720.