Surface Error Compensation of Off-axis Parabolic Mirrors by Alignment

In order to improve the imaging quality of optical system, high precision surface of mirrors are put forward to improve their imaging quality. It makes their fabrication harder. Wavefront aberration induced by alignment is analyzed in off-axis parabolic mirror system based on the wavefront aberration theory. The surface error of off-axis parabolic mirror can be compensated by alignment so it will reduce the fabrication difficulty, shorten its period and save its cost. In the simulations of an off-axis parabolic mirror with surface error λ/40 RMS (λ=632.8 nm) ( Root Mean Squre) with ZEMAX software, the figure accuracy is under λ/40 RMS after alignment. It shows that surface error of off-axis parabolic mirrors could be compensated effectively by alignment.