Patent ID: 8064041

Claim:
A projection objective, comprising: a plurality of optical elements arranged in N≧2 successive sections A 1 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 first surface and a second surface opposite the first surface, a portion of the first surface of the first optical element being locally reprocessed aspherically, and the second surface of the first optical element being curved; the plurality of optical elements comprises a second optical element having a first surface and a second surface opposite the first surface, a portion of the first surface of the second optical element being locally reprocessed aspherically, and the second surface of the second optical element being curved; during use of the projection objective, the locally reprocessed portion of the first surface of the first optical element and the locally reprocessed portion of the first 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.