Patent ID: 6842297

Claim:
An improved Wavefront Coding system for imaging an object comprising: Wavefront Coding Optics having an aperture and including a central region, wherein the central region applies an essentially constant phase profile to light from the object passing through the central region, and a peripheral region disposed about the central region, wherein the peripheral region applies a phase profile to light from the object that has alternating increasing and decreasing phase relative to the central region, and wherein the phase profile applied by the Wavefront Coding Optics alters the optical transfer function of the Wavefront Coding system in such a way that the altered optical transfer function is substantially less sensitive to focus related aberrations than was the unaltered optical transfer function; a detector for capturing an image from the Wavefront Coding Optics; and a post processing element for processing the image captured by the detector by reversing the alteration to the optical transfer function of the Wavefront Coding system accomplished by the Wavefront Coding Optics.