This book examines the concept of stigmatism from its base to the most fundamental stigmatic systems. It starts with the foundations of stigmatism: Maxwell's equations, the eikonal equation, the ray equation, the Fermat principle and Snell's law. Then the most important stigmatic optical systems are studied, without any paraxial or third order approximation or without any optimization process. These systems are the conical mirrors, the Cartesian ovals and the stigmatic lenses. Conical mirrors are studied step by step with clear examples. In the case of the Cartesian ovals, two paradigms are studied: the first, the Cartesian ovals are obtained by means of a polynomial series and the second by means of a general equation of the Cartesian oval. Through the study of these systems, the uniqueness of stigmatism is formulated, and the implications of this uniqueness are presented at the end of the book. This book is an excellent guide for producers of lenses and optical products, and academics in lens design and optics.
Includes bibliographical references.