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Curvature of field is an optical defect where points on an object plane perpendicular to the axis are imaged on a curved surface instead of a flat plane. This aberration, known as Petzval curvature, results in a curved image field without a loss of definition, meaning all lines remain sharp.12

The effect can be mitigated by introducing astigmatism, but anastigmat lenses aim to minimize Petzval curvature by combining strong negative elements of low-index glass with positive elements of high-index glass.2

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