Patent ID: 8902407

Claim:
A projection objective, comprising: a plurality of optical elements arranged in N>2 successive sections A l to A N of the projection objective which are separated from one another by pupil planes or intermediate image planes, wherein: the plurality of optical elements comprises a first optical element having a curved surface, a portion of the curved surface of the first optical element having been locally reprocessed aspherically; the plurality of optical elements comprises a second optical element having a curved surface, a portion of the curved surface of the second optical element having been locally reprocessed aspherically; during use of the projection objective, the locally reprocessed portion of the curved surface of the first optical element and the locally reprocessed portion of the curved surface of the second optical element correct a wavefront deformation, the first optical element is arranged in one section A j , j=1 . . . N; the second optical element is arranged in another section A k , k=1. . .N, with the absolute value difference |k−j| being an odd number; and the projection objective is a microlithographic projection objective.