Hi,I am trying to see the wavefront error due to surface deformations and also extract the zernike values with the help of STAR nodule in Zemax.The FEA data from NX is imported to STAR which I am fitting onto a flat mirror surface. After data fitting there is a difference in the wavefront map profile and the actual deformed surface profile.I am unable to understand what the cause may be. Any help is appreciated.Regards,Rishab

I have an optical design with GRIN lenses and want to tolerance it. How does tolerancing work with GRIN systems - is there anything that changes at all?For example - In which direction does doing a thickness tolerance remove/add GRIN material from? For example, if the part is 0.1 mm thicker, does it add GRIN based on the definition of n(x,y,z) and the gradient? What about when the part is toleranced to be thinner? Which section of GRIN material is removed? How does tolerancing index work? Does it apply a random offset to each part? Constant offset? Similarly, does the GRIN profile also get tilted when doing a tilt tolerance? Note - this is using a custom GRIN user defined *.dll. 

Zemax Team Hi,Please explain how Zemax calculates the amount of Geometrical Energy for “Y - only” / “X - only”  Type  and what does it mean?Is it a fraction from the “Encircled Geometrical Energy” ?Thanks in Advance,Tali M.

Hello,I am facing an issue in image simulation for my designed IR system which is showing a circular ring like patch. I am not sure whether this is an image simulation issue or there is some actual error in the system which is being reflected in the image simulation.The design also includes binary surfaces for chromatic aberration correction.Attached is the image simulation result.Any help is highly appreciated.Regards,Supravat.

hi,I would like to know how to report the angular coordinates of the chief ray relative to the vertex of a surface.specifically, i would like to report (or know the operand) of the angular X and Y coordinates ( the X and Y in the upper left of the image below).  

Hello. Is there a setting in Ansys OS 25 release to set hide/unhide the GUI Ribbon? I prefer to use maximum screen area if possible.The only way I think is to double-click the tab to hide/unhide.-Asuku

Hi all,I am studying the limits of a metrology instrument, and specially the FT lens contribution to systematic errors. For this purpose, I simplify my system by a source, a thick lens, and a detector. I study this configuration with 3 different ways:Using jones calculus. Using Zemax optic studio sequential mode piloted with Python loops. I simulate the exact same configuration as studied with jones calculus. I have 2 models: One using a ‘paraxial’ surface type with non-null thickness. The other one using a standard surface.  However, I obtain 3 different results, and I lack the experience to identify the difference in assumptions or hypothesis between the 3 cases. Could someone help me or point me in the right direction? A lot of thanks for your time, Théo Sieg-Letessier.

Not sure if this topic was discussed before, but I haven’t found it yet.Sometimes I need to export lenses to CAD file (STEP or X_T) including ray bundles for each object field. What is proper setting for having rays that can be viewed in program like Solidworks?For example I tried the setting below, but this STEP file didn’t display field cone rays in SW.  RegardsJS

 Hello,I want to focus the beam with two aspheric lenses. I have tried to optimize the system with the merit function, but I still have a large RWS wavefront error that says I can't get a tough focus. Could you please give me some advice on how to further minimize my focus. I can't change the parameters of the lenses (RoC, thickness of the lens, because these lenses already exist), only the distances between the lenses and between lens and mirror. All information about the system and results can be found bellow.Thank you! 

I would like to model a fiber source array with a X° facet angle in sequential model -  I would like to control the number of rows and columns by defining a pitch size in both axis.An example or article that shows how this can be achieved will be helpful? PS: I see that this is possible w/ a non-sequential setup (How to create an array of sources – Knowledgebase) but is there a way to do this in sequential?

I would like to use POP to measure the size and profile of a beam as it approaches its focal position, however, I am struggling to configure this correctly. The model is a recreation of an experiment I have setup in the lab as I would like to compare the results. The input beam has a very low divergence value (~0.04 mrads, NA 0.000035), and a single achromat lens is used to focus the beam. The position of the lens relative to the source has been set to give a diameter of  ~ 2 mm at this surface. Using the tutorial https://support.zemax.com/hc/en-us/articles/1500005488601-Using-Physical-Optics-Propagation-POP-Part-1-Inspecting-the-beams I cofnigured the aperture type and POP seetings to create the approprite beam definiton and launch conditions.  I then placed various dummy surfaces throughout the system to assess the beam waist.  The problem arises when the beam reaches the lens surface (surface 3). No matter how much I change the size of the sampling grids of the previous surfaces (1

I have built a sequential model where I am trying to simulate how to edge-couple a 780nm laser diode to a thin-film lithium niobate waveguide (PPLN). I am using POP to calculate the coupling efficiency and have acquired a .zbf file from Lumerical that is the ‘output mode’ of the PPLN when running in the SHG mode, and using this as the ‘input’ data for the fibre overlap integral data. I believe I am getting reasonable answers but the beam profile graph is not showing the beam profile I would expect. The x and y half-angle divergences (in degrees) of the laser is 4.25 and 8.5, respectively. The beam profile at a distance of 15 microns from the laser shows a beam that is bigger in x than in y but only in the POP graph. in the 3D shaded model it is larger in y than in x, as I would expect from a DBR type laser. Can someone help me make sense of this?  The Rayleigh range of this beam is xR ~ 45 microns and yR ~ 11 microns, is the fact that I am looking at distances on the order the Rayleigh

I have a legacy “black” USB license for Zemax, and am hoping to install whichever legacy version of the software I have a right to (the old computer in our laboratory, on which Zemax was installed, having finally given up the ghost).Can anyone please assist?

Hello I get an error that zemax cannot open a file because it cannot load “OffAxisEvenAsphere3” . I copied and pasted the dll into the zemax dll directory but it did not solve the problem. what will be the possible solution for that? 

Is there a way—similar to using a Composite Surface in sequential mode—to add the sags of multiple surfaces from different configurations (surfaces 8 in attached file), even when they have coordinate breaks?Composite Surface addition requires that all surfaces share the same coordinate system!

Dear Optical Design Fellows,I used Tol Script to tolerance the lens. The lens tolerance is completed at nominal object distance and I need to pull out lens MTF data at other object distances/configurations with Tol Script. Is there an way/ a command in tol Script to extract lens MTF data at other object distances/configurations after tolerancing at nominal distance? Specifically, the lens is completed tolerance analysis at object distance 1000mm, and I want to pull out MTF data at object distance at 500mm and Infinity using tol script. Is there a way to pull out the lens MTF data with Tolscript command?Regards,Zhisheng Yun 

Hi Zemaxers When i am checking the step data exported by zemax, the solidworks shows the error.  and failed to open the data. BUT, when I checked with my old step data exported by zemax(around 2022 year), it works well! my version is  Ansys Zemax OpticStudio 2024 R1.03Do you also meet this problem?by the way,  eDrawings 2022 x64 Edition can open the data well ... 

Hello everyone, I am trying to design a system in Zemax using both sequential and non-sequential modes, but I am encountering errors and vignetting. What steps should I take to eliminate these issues?

Hi All,I'm working in Non-Sequential Mode and using a Cylinder Volume  as a parent object to create an array using Array Ring.I want to clarify: When I create an array using the parent object, do rays still interact with the original parent object as well as the array instances? If I only want rays to interact with the array elements (and not the original parent), what is the correct way to set this up? Should I disable drawing or use the "Ignore Rays" setting on the parent object? Any guidance or official documentation links would be really helpful. Thanks in advance!

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Hello everyone,I have an optical design with an effective focal length of 250 mm. However, after adding a Schmidt prism, the effective focal length becomes -0.106 mm, whereas it should be around -205 mm. Could you please help me with this issue?

Hello,Is it possible to simulate thermal effect on a retardance waveplate in optics studio and how? I need to design an athermal wavplate with a spacific optical axis orientation. Thanks in advanced.

Hi all,I'm working on optimizing a reflective relay system using two OAP mirrors with coordinate breaks for decenter/tilt and a flat mirror. My goal is diffraction-limited performance across 3 wavelengths (680, 1030, 6000 nm) and 5 field points (0, ±5 deg).I'm using a TRAX/TRAY-based merit function and added a WFNO block targeting 0.07 waves at the image plane (Surface 13). However, I’m still not consistently hitting the diffraction limit. I’m wondering:Which surfaces/coordinate breaks are most effective in varying? Should I add more rays or change pupil sampling?I really stuck.I've attached my .ZOS file and would appreciate any suggestions. Thanks so much!

Hello,I have some questions about back reflections analysis. To check a lens design for potentially dangerous back reflections I use the ghost analysis tool. However, after changing the lens design, I have to do this again and again. Is there a quicker way to check for back reflections during the design process, for example by using NSC?The only way I found so far, is to use “split NSC rays” in the 3D layout. However, I still cannot control the distance of the back reflection to the lens surfaces.Is it possible to define a minimum distance of the back reflection to each lens surface by using an operator? I’m only interested in single bounce reflections, double bounce can be neglected. Thanks in advance! Best Regards,Ben  

Hello! I’m trying to run batch ray traces from Python and have encountered some difficulties. Originally I didn’t use this feature because it was quite slow - since each ray needed to be traced individually in a for loop. But after discovering this Knowledgebase article: Batch Processing of Ray Trace Data using ZOS-API in MATLAB or Python – Knowledgebase (zemax.com) I got excited to try the new Raytrace DLL.|I started by getting the MATLAB example file working, which was pretty trivial. It basically ran as soon as I downloaded it. However, I need the raytracing to be done in Python - so I tried to translate from the MATLAB example file, which did not work very well. First I encountered this error:module ‘clr’ has no attribute ‘AddReference’Which I fixed by uninstalling clr and installing pythonnet (woops, that’s on me). I had to downgrade to Python3.8 to install pythonnet. The next error I encountered after I finally got the code running seems more fundamental, when trying to run NET.a