Description
Precise imaging requires high spatial resolution, a large field of view, and high photon-detection
efficiency. These requirements are particularly important in ultracold-atom experiments and atom-based
quantum platforms, where conventional wide-field aberration correction often relies on complex multi-
element optics and therefore introduces additional scattering and photon loss [1]. Here we propose and
demonstrate a numerical framework in which a single imaging lens is represented by a small number of
effective phase plates, enabling efficient wide-field aberration correction through wavefront reversal.
The lens operation Û is first evaluated from lens schematic data by Rayleigh–Sommerfeld propagation
between the front and back focal planes. It is then approximated by Ûeff as free-space propagation
interleaved with phase plates whose phase profiles and axial positions are optimized within the field of
view and angle of view of interest. With the measured lens-output wavefront Eout = Û Ein and simple
numerical alignments, the incident wavefront can be reconstructed by backward propagation through the
†
effective multi-plate model Ẽin = Ûeff
Eout. Compared with a direct transfer-matrix description, this
representation greatly reduces the computational cost for wide-field aberration correction.
We numerically apply the method to both aspherical and spherical lenses and evaluate the correction
fidelity by comparing the reversed wavefront with the corresponding input field. The results show that
lens aberrations can be accurately compensated over a wide field, yielding diffraction-limited performance
with (FOV/res)2 > 105 for a single lens. We further validate the approach experimentally using a plano-
convex lens with focal length f = 40 mm at λ ≃ 780 nm. Multi-plane Gerchberg–Saxton reconstruction
is used to obtain both the direct and lens-transformed wavefronts [2], and the aberrated field is corrected
by multi-plate wavefront reversal. A three-plate array reconstructs the target-plane wavefront, reaching
a wavefront similarity of 98.2% within a 2.1 mm FOV with 10 µm resolution, substantially outperforming
the traditional correction methods based on single-phase-plate.
The proposed multi-plate representation provides a compact and accurate model for imaging lenses
and enables wide-field aberration correction with reduced computational complexity. This approach offers
a route toward single-lens digital holographic imaging [2] that combines high precision, large volume of
view, and high photon-detection efficiency.
