Analysis of the cubic-phase wavefront-coding function: Physical insight and selection of optimal coding strength

A simple graphical interpretation at the pupil of an optical system is proposed to analyse the properties of the cubic-phase wavefront-coding function. The approach explains the invariance achieved against optical defocus of wavefront coding imaging systems with simplicity and clarity. Next, an analytical approximation of the modulation-transfer function of general wavefront coding systems is derived and used, in combination with the graphical interpretation, for selecting the optimal strength of the cubic-phase encoding function.