Axial behaviour of Cantor ring diffractals

Cantor ring diffractals describe rotationally symmetric pupils constructed from a one-dimensional polyadic Cantor set. The influence on the axial irradiance of several fractal descriptors of such pupils, including fractal dimension, number of gaps and lacunarity, are investigated. It is shown that, contrary to their transversal response, the axial behaviour of these pupils does not resemble the fractal structure of the aperture. The sensitivity of such pupils to the spherical aberration is also analysed.