Stability of Zernike coefficients solved by the covariance matrix method in the analysis of the wave front aberration

The deduction of Zernike coefficients is usually influenced by the finite number of sampling dots on interferogram and their inherited measurement errors. In this paper, a simplified Gram-Schmidt method for solving the Zernike polynomial with the higher fitting precision is presented and used to analyze the wave front aberrations for the circle interference fringe of the fine polished aluminum disk surface captured by a Twyman-Green interferometer system. We find the stability of the Zernike coefficients changes with changing the Zernike term, which has lead to the wrong expression for the wave front aberration. By analyzing the condition number of the coefficients matrix and the fitting precision of the method, it is indicated that the instability can be avoided when the Zernike term is lower than 14. Such an analysis will be valuable in solving the Zernike polynomial for the wave front aberration analysis in optical testing.