Skew ray tracing and error analysis of optical lens with cylindrical boundary surface

This study applies computational geometric algebra based on a 4|4 homogeneous transformation matrix and Snell's law of geometrical optics to analyze skew rays and the errors of a light ray's path as it passes through a cylindrical lens. The author addresses two important topics: (1) the determination of the direction of a reflected or refracted ray by Snell's law and (2) the expression of the combination of two principal sources of light path error using error analysis. In topic (2), one of the sources is the translational errors Δd_ix, Δd_iy, and Δd_iz and the rotational errors Δ ω_ix, Δ ω_iy, and Dωiz that determine the deviation of the light path at each boundary surface, while the other source is the differential changes induced in the incident point position and the unit directional vector of the refracted/reflected ray as a result of differential changes in the position and unit directional vector of the light source. The methodology presented in this study provides a comprehensive and robust approach for evaluating the error of a light ray path as it passes through a cylindrical lens.