Hello Everyone!
Sorry, I did not know that there were so many people interested in the questions that we mentioned with Marcus in the beginning of this thread, but now one of my friends told me that I should look back here ... and now I see there are so many posts. I am really surprised ... but also happy to see that people are interested!
I try to quickly answer the questions that are connected to my posts (and I can remember after reading THIS length of text using goggle translate):
1. Yes, my simulation(s) were monochromatic.
2. Marcus is right, de-centering a single member of an oil spaced lens makes the lens "wedged" and this way, causes first order lateral color (on- and off axis) that decreases polychromatic Strehl.
3. Yes, the air spaced lenses that use little metal spacers (that keep the surfaces at 3 points around the perimeter in constant distance) have different (much lower) sensitivity for de-centering than air spaced lenses with using spacer rings. But unfortunately, both type has its own problems that we can discuss (if anyone is interested). But now let's look at oil spaced lenses.
4. Regarding the type of de-centering (the question whether the front member is also tilted when it is pushed out of center) the answer is that BOTH cases are possible for oil spaced lenses and the optician who adjusts the lens can freely use these parameters to remove astigmatism, coma and lateral color. If you only move the front member, then it will be (naturally) tilted, because the oil layer "glues" together the surfaces, so the facing surfaces remain in contact all the time. On the other hand, if you move the front member out of center, then you also move the middle member (until the front surface of the lens will again become parallel with the back surface) then the front member is moved WITHOUT any (final) tilting. The result is that the middle member will be slightly tilted, and this raises coma WITHOUT first order lateral color, so, this effect can be also used to remove ANY coma WITHOUT raising ANY first order lateral color. So, all in all we can say that if there are at least TWO members that can be moved independently inside the lens, then coma, first order lateral color and astigmatism can be ALL tuned INDEPENDENTLY (i.e. it is possible to raise or correct ANY of these aberrations without changing the value of the two other). No other aberration is affected, so, for oil spaced lenses with at least two movable members, coma, astigmatism and first order lateral color can ALL be considered as collimation questions (or how should we call an optical aberration that can be adjusted by screws??? SURELY not a problem of the glass ... in my opinion ... just like we do not care about the coma of a mis-adjusted Newton, because it can be removed by adjusting the main mirror ... anyway, maybe a correct DEFINITION (i.e. not "fairy tale") of "aberration" and "apochromatism" would make it much easier to talk about optics in mathematical precision

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So, these aberrations NEED NOT to be evaluated in the interferogram (lateral color is automatically out of question even for polychromatic interferograms, no software can currently handle this problem to my knowledge ... just as the common de-focus of different color channels is NOT handled ... so, calculating correct polychromatic Strehl is IMPOSSIBLE using today's software, what people measure is ONLY the spherochromatism, NOT the polychromatic Strehl, which SHOULD take into account the longitudinal false color too ... but it is NOT taken into account, the different de-focusing of color channels is removed by ALL fringe evaluation software ... or does anybody know one that can handle this task???), so, as lateral color is automatically out of question, we should only take care about ADJUSTING coma and astigmatism. If they are well adjusted, then they will NOT be present in the image formed by the lens, so, I consider them as collimation problems.
The comment about the tilted focal plane of tilted lenses (no matter if air- or oil spaced) is a simple urban legend, a triplet lens does NEVER even have a focal plane (without a focal plane corrector) it only has a "focal sphere", because the focal plane is ALWAYS curved (at least if the lenses are in one group). Tilting a sphere results in an identical sphere, so, tilting a lens (to adjust astigmatism) has ZERO effect on the off-axis corrections.
You can store an oil spaced lens in ANY ORIENTATION, this has zero effect on anything. The oil "glues" the surfaces together very strongly, you can only slide off the members from each other but you can only break the glass into pieces if you try to raise a member from the other. Also, if in a given position the oil layer would be thinner, then the cohesion forces would "suck" the oil from the thicker places to this place (as they are MUCH stronger than gravity) so, the oil layer automatically adjusts itself without any external help. So, the storing position has absolutely zero effect on the (well made oil spaced) lens. The oil layer can not break and can not become assymmetrical by itself, even if the lens is stored in ANY position for ANY long time.
It is a fact that an oil spaced lens MUST be held in the cell by gravity, the cell must NOT touch the upper optical surface (just as Zeiss has recognized: you MUST NOT apply any force on the optical surface!!!). For this reason, we apply a rubber o-ring under the lens that distributes the gravitational force evenly on the perimeter. On the upper side there is another rubber ring, but this only protects the lens while it is transported (i.e. it holds the lens "softly" so, the glass can not break so easily) but it does NOT even touch the surface (there is a minimal air space between the lens and the rubber o-ring). Also, NO FORCE must be applied on the retaining ring, because this would distort the glass. Literally, the retaining ring is only there to prevent the lens from falling out of the cell in case the scope is turned upside down. But during observation, the lens is held by gravity, the upper member freely floats on the oil layer. Ther result: you can do anything with the lens, shake it, beat it, if you do not break it into pieces, the optical performance will NOT be affected. I have tried this many times! No problem if you bump the scope into the door, the lens will NOT show coma, simply because the tolerance of the lens for de-centering is very good (when I adjust an air spaced lens with centering screws, I only "show" the screwdriver to the lens and there is already coma, while for oil spaced lenses I have to rotate the screws significantly to see anything in the auto-collimator) and also because there is no air space. Air spaces have two problems:
1. their refraction ratio (i.e. air v.s. glass) is significantly different. So, any difference in the air space thickness causes STRONG differences in optical performance: thicker or thinner air space will raise spherical aberration, and imperfect rotational symmetry will cause coma. The problem is that the air space is held by MECHANICALLY made metal spacers that have "mechanical tolerances" and the tolerance of the optical system is similar to the highest precision we can actually make today. So, making such precise mechanical air space holders is on the limit of technology.
2. the difference between the color correction of air spaced v.s. oil spaced lenses is because the air space can decrease the curvature of the internal surfaces, so, spherochromatism can be smaller. BUT only a wide air space will have significant effect, thin air spaces do practically NOTHING: if we choose good glasses and make a careful opical design, then oil spaced lenses can also be IDENTICALLY corrected for EVERY practical aberration (except for 5th order spherical aberration, which on the other hand can be easily removed by a slightly aspherical surface). So, with thin air spaces there is practically ZERO difference between an air spaced and an oil spaced lens in any respect. To make real advantage out of the air space, you have to make it wide (just like Astreya did for their 102mm lens with 12-14mm wide air spaces: THAT lens will NEVER be easy to beat for color correction) ... but wide air spaces make it necessary to use spacer rings (a 12mm tall air space holder would not stay on the glass surface

... so, I believe my original simulation is still right ... but maybe we should give it a more precise name: it was comparing air spaced lenses that make REAL ADVANTAGE of the air space to oil spaced lenses. And for lenses using spacer rings the simulation is still valid: they are 27x more sensitive for de-centering. Also, my practical experiences confirm this.
I will regularly look back to this forum in the future and try to answer any questions ... at least that are within the limits of my humble knowledge about lenses.
Thanks for reading!
Pal