Spot diagrams are graphs that show where rays from a point object will fall on the image surface. 

The spot diagrams are maps of where rays intersect the image plane after passing through the pupil with a chosen grid pattern. A spot diagram can be considered to be an image of a point source. 

Here is one example:

Spot Diagram

To generate these diagrams we trace a large number of rays, typically of the order of 100, from each field point, and often in several colors.

Spot Diagram

Spot Diagram for single wavelength

Spot Diagram

Spot Diagram Data

Spot Diagram