The Influence of Random Wavefront Errors on the Imaging Characteristics of an Optical SystemII. Statistics of the Transfer Function

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Abstract
In the first paper of this series [1] the influence of random wavefront errors on the transfer function and point-spread function of an optical system were studied theoretically. This second paper presents the numerical computation of the second-moment behaviour of the complex transfer function process in terms of its two variates, T R and T I, where T=T R+iT I. Although the random processes governing T R and T I are not independent, the two processes are shown to be uncorrelated for non-aberrated systems. Rather than compute higher moments of the transfer function process, a wavefront simulation study to generate realizations of the process was performed for selected values of the wavefront parameters at selected spatial frequencies. Results of the simulation serve as further evidence of the general inadequacy of the Gaussian assumption regarding the transfer function.

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