Aberration limits for annular Gaussian beams for optical storage

Abstract

This paper considers the issue of aberration for annularly apodized Gaussian beams with regards to optical storage applications. The effects resulting from mathematical modeling are compared to experimental observations. It is seen that annular beams are slightly more sensitive to balanced astigmatism but less to balanced coma and spherical aberrations, although overall they are less sensitive than the clear apertures studied. No significant aperture alignment sensitivity was observed for both experimental or theoretical studies.