Wavefront measurement of a multilens optical system based on phase measuring deflectometry

Usually, a multilens optical system is composed of multiple undetectable sublenses. Wavefront of a multilens optical system cannot be measured when classical transmitted phase measuring deflectometry (PMD) is used. In this study, a wavefront measuring method for an optical system with multiple optics is presented based on PMD. A paraxial plane is used to represent the test multilens optical system. We introduce the calibration strategy and mathematical deduction of gradient equations. Systematic errors are suppressed with an N-rotation test. Simulations have been performed to demonstrate our method. The results showing the use of our method in multilens optical systems, such as the collimator and single-lens reflex camera lenses show that the measurement accuracy is comparable with those of interferometric tests.