I recently finished optimizing my objective lens to two different configurations, but when I ran the tolerance analysis, I saw I had some work to do. So I thought I'd optimize again with my tolerance data using the TOLR operand in my merit function but Zemax tells me 'Tol operand TSDX is invalid. Under multi-configuration control. Is there a way to keep multi-configuration (as I'm optimizing for two configs) and use TOLR in the merit function and with TSDX in the tolerance editor?

Does the Total Track length include the distance to the image plane? How does it handle non-axial systems?

I came across this recent thread which seems to confirm that there is no direct way to use TM25 ray files in Zemax. The suggestion there is to go to the source of the ray file, and get a different format, which can be converted using a third party tool to a format Zemax can use.  In my case, the source of the TM25 files does not provide any other format, so this is not an option for me.  Is there anything else I might try? I don't have access to the IES TM25 spec, so converting the files myself is not really an option—and writing my own binary file parser is not something I would do with confidence or enthusiasm. Maybe someone at Zemax would like to take a stab at this? A quick-and-dirty, completely unsupported Python script would be a huge help. I'm not sure how many different types of information are contained in a TM25 file, but ray origins, directions, and intensities would be enough in my case.

I am simulating a simple polarimeter by rotating the quarter waveplate (qwp) by using multi-configuration. Is there a way that I can use universal plot to create a curve of the system transmission intensity vs. qwp rotating angle? The input will be linear or circular polarized light. Please advise!

I added a surface aperture to my system to introduce vignetting; however, I am not seeing the effects of it when looking at the spot diagram.

When should you use the System Check button, and what type of errors can it check for?

I am translating a customer’s Code V file with HOE diffrative surfaces to ZOS to make some non-sequential studies. I do not know how to configurate a holographic surface in ZOS to take into account the grooves of the holographic difractive surface in the stray analysis process. I will appreciate any help. Besides, do you know what is the correspondence between the Code V HOE surface definition and the ZOS HOE definition? Thanks in advance for your help.

I would like to know the versioning of Zemax file, for e.g. if I am working on a project, when it's done I will save it as a Sampleptoject.zmx, if I will do changes in the Sampleptoject.zmx, then how can I automatically save it as version1, version2, version3 and ....so on ? Present I am saving it manually.

need help with knowledgebase access

I'm trying to create a Grid Phase data file to act as a phase screen, and the manual describes the file format as equivalent to a Grid Sag .DAT file, but that doesn't seem to be working for me. For a Grid Sag file, information is arranged as follows:  ! nx ny delx dely unitflag xdec ydec  

Is there a significant difference between constraining your focal length by using a solve, or optimizing for it with the EFFL operand?

I'm modelling a telescope system with a deformable mirror, and I am providing the deformed mirror surface as a grid sag data file. For the case with an extremely localized deformity (0.0014 to 0.0018% of the total mirror surface area deformed) with a PV difference of about one wavelength, the RMS Spot Radius changes from about 27 micron, to a few hundred micron (200-400 micron). My questions are as follows: 1) Is it expected that such a small deformity should have such a large effect on RMS Spot Radius? How is RMS Spot Radius calculated, and why does increasing the number of rays decrease the RMS Spot Radius? Why does the spot diagram appear mostly symmetric, when the deformity is localized? 2) Are there alternative Analysis parameters to determine the deterioration in image quality due to a single highly localized deformity, that can be used as a more suitable alternative to RMS spot radius? Would RMS wavefront error be a better parameter? Is there anythin

Hello, another dummy question. Reminder: I'm a new user, have ZOS 15 and modify an existing model. So I have some reflective surfaces defined by a coating, e.g. MYCOATING defined in the Coating Catalog by: ---------- Coating Name:    MYCOATING (IDEAL) S-Polarization:    T, tr, ti:        0.13210000        0.36345564        0.00000000    R, rr, ri:        0.86790000        0.93161151        0.00000000            A:        0.00000000          TIR:        1.00000000 P-Polarization:    T, tr, ti:        0.13210000        0.36345564        0.00000000    R, rr, ri:        0.86790000&nb

I am trying to use a Powell lens for line illumination. Does anyone know how to set up a surface model of the Powell lens in Zemax? 

Hello all, I hope you are all well in the Corona epoch. This is my first post.  Let's say I am trying to imaging a sensor of 4.8*6.4 mm with Aspheric doublet (FOV 15.2, EFFL 30). The total Aperture stop is 18*6 mm but for each group of fields(up,center,down) we are intrested in much smaller aperture of 6*6mm(displaced -6,0,6 mm respectively-see attached image). Rays outside ot this smaller aperture don't propagate further into the optical system. 1. I am trying to use the REAY/X operands for this approch by enforing the above rays to arrived to specific smaller aperture. Am i doing it right? 2.  Is there a way to use the multi configurations editor, to displace the apreture stop for each group of fields? I try to do it, but when using the 3d viewer, when choosing all configurations, it seem like it can't be done. Attached below the zemax files before and after opitmization and the merit function file. Many thanks, Nadav        

Yes, OpticStudio has a built-in shortcut to toggle a variable on the radius, thickness, or material fields in the Lens Data Editor. Select the field with the value you want to assign as a variable (or highlight a range of them) and press Crtl+Z. A full list of shortcuts can be found under Setup…Project Preferences, selecting the Shortcut Keys tab on the left. Here you can not only see the default shortcuts, you can also customize the keystrokes for any one of them, or modify the active list from a selection of available shortcuts in order to use OpticStudio most efficiently for your needs.

This can be done with the Elliptical Volume object, setting either the Front R or Back R to be a really small value (1E-6). Or you can also use Part-Designer; you just need to use one of the pre-defined shapes and save it as a .ZPO object: Once done, you can import this object in the Non-Sequential Component Editor, and apply different properties or coatings to its faces:

If slider or visual optimizer is used in the system, it can be useful to be able to fix the scale on the Layout plot, to better understand how the system is changing when changing some thickness parameters. In the Classic view of the Layouts (both Cross-Section and 3D), there is a Scale Factor setting, that can be used to fix the scale of the plot: If the Scale Factor is set to 0, then 'Fill Frame' will be selected, which will scale the range of surfaces drawn to fill the graphic page. However, if the Scale Factor is set to a numeric value, then the plot will be drawn in 'real' scale, times the Scale Factor. For example, a scale factor of 1.0 will plot the lens actual size on the printer, while a factor of 0.5 will plot the lens at half scale. To use this feature, the Classic view can be turned on or off in the Setup tab > Project Preferences > Graphics > Enable Classic View.

There is a 'Through-focus MTF feature'. Is there a way to extract MTF50 through focus instead of modulation at a certain frequency through focus?

I’m currently modelling an imaging system in sequential mode and want to check the effect of a beamsplitter quoted with a lambda/4 surface flatness and lambda wavefront error. As an approximation, is there a simple way to introduce the wavefront error at a dummy surface used to represent the beamsplitter? If I wanted to more accurately account for the surface flatness in reflection, would I need to use non-sequential mode? And how would I incorporate this property into the surface in that case? Thanks!

Hello, There is something I don't understand with the way Source Diode are placed (see image below). I've got two Source Diode placed at the same X Position [0], same Z Position [-51.4], different Y Position. The object 8 is at Y8 = -145.25, object 9 is at Y9 = -62.25. The global Y reference pointing rightwards, I expect the object 9 to be at the right of the object 8 because Y9 > Y8, right? But it seems to be the contrary. Additionally, they seem to be unexpectedly at different Z position. So I suppose I did something wrong with the coordinate references. I checked the Modify Reference Object but both object seem to refere to the Global Reference. Any hint? Best regards

Hi, I am trying to run a Zemax Demo macro. When I execute the macro, the status changes to running line 0 and nothing else happens. Do I need certain settings to run the Demo macro on a LENS file? What can I try to get the macro running? Thank you very much in advance! Best regards, Julia  

The paraxial approximation of Snell’s Law is a first order approximation that reduces the full form of Snell’s Law from n sin(θ) = n’ sin(θ’) to the linear relationship n θ = n’ θ’ (where the primed quantities denote values after refraction), and is valid for very small angles (and thus rays that travel close to the optical axis). OpticStudio uses these paraxial rays in the computation of paraxial data such as the EFL, F/#, and entrance pupil diameter. However, OpticStudio uses the full form of Snell’s Law in most calculations and analyses because not all surfaces can be properly defined by the power of the surface at the vertex, and to account for aberrations, which are deviations from this ideal ray. While the first order approximations might have been crucial to expediting calculations done by hand, the speed of modern computers makes the difference in calculation time inconsequential when compared to the benefits of

The first thing you can try is to reduce the number of Layout Rays in the system. The Layout Rays are only used for showing rays on the layouts and will not have an effect on the Detector Viewer. Next, if you have CAD object in the system, I would recommending decreasing the ‘Chord Tolerance’ and ‘Surface Tolerance’. Other faceted objects in the system can have the resolution turned down as well by using the ‘Draw’ tab in the Object Properties. This may free up some memory. Finally, in the Non-Sequential tab of the System Explorer, there are settings for the ‘Maximum Segments per Ray’ and ‘Maximum Source File Rays in Memory’. Decreasing the ‘Maximum Segments per Ray’ could free up enough memory to render the system. Increasing the ‘Maximum Source File Rays in Memory’ could also work (A recommended value would be 1,000,000 rays). I would also suggest checking that the ‘Minimum Relative Intensity&

Located under the Libraries Tab…Material Tools is the Glass Compare tool.   This tool allows you to choose a reference glass catalog (the primary catalog) and it will select the closest equivalent glass from one or two other catalogs for each entry for materials used in the visible range. The user chooses the tolerance on the refractive index (nd) and the Abbe number (Vd) that defines the maximum allowable deviation from the characteristics of the primary material. Once run, you will see columns for each of the glass catalogs that allows for the quick comparison of what glasses can be easily substituted by one from another catalog. Each entry also includes a flag indicating the status of each glass type (Standard, Preferred, Obsolete, Special, or Melt), which may be particularly helpful if you are trying to find glass substitutes that are more common to reduce costs.