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OlivierSingle Emitter

asked in Got a question?

EXPP not exactly right? Why?

Hello,I am new here. I believe that the exit pupil is a plane where PARY (0,1) (0,0) is exactly zero (or a very small numerical error). However, in the simple example attached, I read EXPP = -25.26 µm. This difference from zero is bigger than a numerical error. Could you explain why the exit pupil is not exactly where is should be?Thank you,Olivier

561

16 days ago

CharlieGSingle Emitter

asked in Got a question?

Zernike Phase compensator issue in tolerancing script

I’m having some trouble running a tolerancing script in OpticStudio, where I continually get the “nominal criterion cannot be computed” error when I attempt to run the script. I’ve tracked it down to a CPAR compensator I’ve defined on a Zernike Fringe Phase surface. I’m attempting to use the phase surface Z9 term to null the system spherical for each Monte Carlo file in the tolerance analysis.I’ve confirmed the compensator is defined correctly (CPAR Surf# Param23), and I’m able to set the same parameter to a variable and optimize in the nominal design file, so I can’t understand why the tolerance script cannot implement this as a compensator. If I comment out the CPAR line, the nominal criteria evaluates and the script runs without issue. Can anyone explain why I’m unable to use this compensator?

1014

16 days ago

David.NguyenLuminary

asked in Got a question?

Feature Request: ZOS-API Layouts Exports Completion

One year ago, @Xianglei wrote a topic (thanks a lot!) about:Since its been quite painful to generate such plots with ZPL (thanks to @Erin.Elliott, we might get a fix in 2025 🤞):I’ve been using the ZOS-API option more and more to create animations. It is more stable, but currently lacks a couple of options. Since we’re approaching the Christmas period 🎅, this is my wish list to improve the ZOS-API Layout Exports feature (in order of importance):As far as I understand, we cannot specify the file type of the export. I’ve tried to use multiple extensions in OutputFileName (.JPG, .PNG, ...etc.) but the file size remains the same. Based on the file size, which is rather small (for a given image size), I’m assuming the export is made in .JPG regardless of the extension specified. Can the file type be added to the ZOS-API? Could we get a vector graphics file type? Although there’s a property RaysLineThickness, for me, it doesn’t seem to have an effect. If someone is anyway going to look at

954

17 days ago

whit2452Monochrome

asked in Got a question?

How to model interference pattern from diffraction grating

I have a simple system of a laser, pinhole slit, and diffraction grating and having trouble mapping the expected diffraction pattern. I have performed this experiment in real life, and can see the spots align 16 mm apart vertically after exiting the diffraction grating. I have moved my system to non sequential mode and ray traced, but the detector viewer continues to show one giant spot. Can someone please help me better understand what could be the issue here? I am using scattering surfaces.

551

17 days ago

jsungVisible

asked in Got a question?

Freeform Z object doesn't work for Boolean native?

I tried to do Boolean subtraction with Freeform Z object and cylinder volume in order to drill a cylindrical hole through the Freeform Z lens. But Zemax won’t make that boolean subtraction as I wanted.Is this bug or did I miss something here?

679

17 days ago

nadav.amitaiFully Spectral

asked in Got a question?

Radial grating to binary grating

Hi all, Is there a fast way to make binary grating from radial grating?Some thing like that:Into: EDIT:Well I succeed to make a digital function. How I write it in dll. file?Thanks in advance,Nadav

370

20 days ago

LeonInfrared

asked in Got a question?

Question about Source Diode

I create a Source Diode file with eliptical ratio of 3 and 0 astigmatism, evergthing including the source sizes are as expected, no problems here, see the raytracing at the left side below. But after I type in a tiny astigmatism of 0.001 (keep everything else untouched), the source size shrinks a lot. What is happening?

412

21 days ago

Indy.MagnusMonochrome

asked in Got a question?

Quantum Yield simulation and definition

Dear all,I have a question regarding the Quantum Yield when used in the Phosphors and Fluorescence Volume Physics section in the non-sequential mode.I have a simple setup in Zemax (file in attachment) where I want to replicate a fluorescence quantum yield measurement. It consists of a collimated monochromatic excitation source, a rectangular volume with the volume physics set, and a polar detector capturing all the scattered and fluorescent light. The absorption spectrum is flat at the excitation wavelength (550 nm), the emission spectrum is an arbitrary curve around 600-700 nm, and the quantum yield spectrum is a single value of 1. I have chosen the extinction coefficient such that around 60% of the light is absorbed/re-emitted and the rest is transmitted normally.With this setup, I would have expected that no light would be lost. However, looking at the total power captured by the polar detector, only 93% of the light remains. Looking at the flux vs wavelength plots shows that we hav

270

24 days ago

Rick VleugelsInfrared

asked in Got a question?

Freeform cylindrical lens

Hello,I am designing some systems using cylindrical lenses and I am exploring the possibility of using freeform lenses, but I don’t have a lot of experience on this. I know there are some surfaces for this available in OpticStudio, but which one can be best used for cylindrical freeform lenses, such that there is only optical power in one direction?Also, what is generally a good way for such a design? First optimize a standard system and from there introduce some freeform variables? Or directly go to the freeform variables?Thanks in advance!

702

24 days ago

Khaled.HassanSingle Emitter

asked in Licensing and Installation

Inquiry about Zemax Pro License

I found that Zemax pro license doesn’t support “User-Defined Plugin for Surface, Objects, Sources, and Scatter Profiles”, Does this include source DLL and fiber DLL, such that this types of sources won’t be supported in the pro license?

712

24 days ago

Renaud.LigotInfrared

posted in Got a question?

ISO drawing edge thickness

Hi In addition to my previous post (“units in the new ISO element drawing”) I would like to point out that the edge thickness annotation that has been added to the ISO drawing in the last update Zemax OS is not always correctly calculated! See example below where the edge thickness is clearly not the sum of the central thickness and the sag of the surfaces (by the way, the SAG are also not correct) . Moreover the number of decimals is a bit exaggerated in my opinion.I think having edge thickness and total thickness of the lens indicated is a real plus (if correctly calculated 😏) but then it would be interesting to be able adding the tolerance on those values.

802

25 days ago

jesusmunozjmjMonochrome

asked in Got a question?

Homogeneus source modeling

Hello everyone,I am attempting to create a homogeneous, squared light source using a rectangular array in non-sequential mode. Despite setting the following parameters:Layout Rays = Analysis Rays = 1 Number of X and Y = 13 Spacing in X and Y = 1I am unable to achieve the desired result: a simple 13x13 array of equally spaced rays. Is there an alternative method to model this type of source? Thank you in advance for your help!Best regards,Jesús Muñoz

551

25 days ago

jsungVisible

asked in Got a question?

How do I know total number of rays in the new ray file?

As per title. I’m not sure if this was asked and answered before.Is there easy way to figure out total ray numbers of the ray file before tracing it?

695

1 month ago

Jiawei LIUSingle Emitter

asked in Got a question?

Can grid sag surfaces be used on object surfaces(surface 0)?

I tried to change the object surface type to grid sag surface and imported the grid surface data, but the surface sag map did not change. When I imported the grid sag data to any other surface, it was displayed normally, so I am a little doubtful whether grid sag surfaces can be used on object surface(surface 0)? If not, is there any other way? I want to analyze the imaging results of a complex target surface after passing through a certain optical system. Can adding a grid phase surface after the object surface achieve my goal? if yes, How to convert the grid sag surface into the required grid phase surface?

431

1 month ago

jesusmunozjmjMonochrome

asked in Got a question?

Array type on sources (NSC)

Hi, I am using Non-Sequential mode in OpticStudio, and I am trying to create a square source from a rectangular array. The problem is that the source only traces rays to a single quadrant of the optical system. I would like to create a square source without having to create four separate sources in each quadrant. Thank you in advance! Best regards,Jesús

513

1 month ago

FrantisekSingle Emitter

asked in Got a question?

Collimating beams with lightpath lenses

I would like to ask you to help with one Zemax file.I use one Lightpath aspheric lens to collimate beam in 30 mm distance.In POP there is some Newtons circles as picture of irradianceIn don’t know, why there is no standard Gaussian distribution of beam. It is looks like some interference of sources……Is it possible, that in lens model is EVEN ASPHERE used ?Or there is some bad settings somewhere ?POP picture, setting and lens data of the lens are in files.Thanks for any answerBest RegardsFrantisek

661

1 month ago

Sasha.BrodskyMonochrome

asked in Got a question?

Spot efficiency for laser and focusing objective blackbox

I designed a custom objective for a laser system, and I want to compare the efficiency (including aperture clipping), and peak intensity with a catalogue objective, whose Blackbox I have.I found that Huygens PSF gives spot quality without considering efficiency, and the geometrical analysis method GIA shows efficiency but not the realistic spot size and peak intensity.Is there a standard practice for comparisons like these?Thanks in advance.

741

1 month ago

rayTracerSingle Emitter

asked in Got a question?

What is the equivalent non sequential object type for sequential extended toroidal grating surface

Hello Zemax Community,I've modeled a freeform lens in sequential mode using the Extended Toroidal Grating Surface Type in Zemax. I defined my lens with parameters for Radius, Conic Constant, and Extended Polynomial Terms. Since the lens is an astigmatic component, it has curvature along the Y-axis while remaining flat along the X-axis, which is why I selected the extended toroidal grating surface.When I converted the sequential model to a non-sequential model using Zemax’s “Convert to NSC Group” feature, the lens appeared as a combination of Standard Surface, Grid Sag Surface, and Compound Lens. However, the performance doesn’t match my original sequential model, and I suspect the conversion process may not have fully captured the lens design.My question is:Is there an object type in NSC mode that allows me to manually enter my Radius, Conic Constant, and Extended Polynomial Terms to recreate the lens accurately? Are there recommended steps for converting this type of lens from Sequent

210

1 month ago

Tiago117Infrared

asked in Got a question?

Fidelity of aspherical lens export to .dxf

I read this article (How accurate is the CAD exchange? – Knowledgebase) and I am wondering how it applies to the 3D .dxf export.I intend to use this exported polygon in a silicon fabrication process called greyscale lithography. And now I am wondering how realistic this polygon is. I have an aspherical lens with its 4th, 6th and 8th order coefficients optimized.I'm not expecting a perfect translation as the greyscale process itself isn't perfect (and transforms this continuous shape in steps). But using as many segments the software allows (128), would you say this export is aspherical "enough"? As in, while it may not be as perfect as the modelling Zemax uses, it is still, nonetheless, an aspherical surface, similar to the one I optimized?My exported aspherical lens with 128 segments.Thank you!

250

1 month ago

chumphreysMonochrome

asked in Got a question?

Modeling a conical spatial filter in non-sequential

I am looking to model a conical spatial filter and I am trying to figure out the best way to do this. I started with a non-sequential model and an absorbing annular volume as the spatial filter. I am specifically trying to look at the spatial frequencies being clipped by the spatial filter, the output beam profile, and how the roughness of the surface of the spatial filter can impact the output beam. I am using the detector viewers to look at the output beam but is there a way to quantify these results. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

562

1 month ago

pepeMonochrome

asked in Got a question?

Spot size inconsistencies between the designs with the same lens

Hello,I created an optical system using Thorlabs collimator RC08FC-P01 (90 degree reflective mirror) and AL2550M lens. The Zemax files were obtained from Thorlabs site and modified to fit my needs.If I only use a lens as designed by Zemax engineers, the spot size for 405 nm is 0,15 microns, but if I use a collimator and then put the lens in the beam path, the spot size for the same wavelength is much larger at 55 microns.Is this due to design of collimator, software artefact or something else? I attached .zmx files of the lens and collimator+lens designs.

1083

1 month ago

LeonInfrared

asked in Got a question?

I am confused about scattering power

Assume 5 extreme cases:1 If a surface is transparent with Scatter Fraction 1 , how much power is scattered? 2 If a surface has 0.5 reflectance with Scatter Fraction 1 , how much power is scattered and spcular reflected?3 If a surface has 0.5 reflectance with Scatter Fraction 0.5, how much power is scattered and specular reflected?4 If a surface has 1 reflectance with Scatter Fraction 1 , how much power is scattered and specular reflected?5 If a surface has 1 reflectance with Scatter Fraction 0.5, how much power is scattered and specular reflected?

652

1 month ago

光

光儒.王Single Emitter

asked in Got a question?

Why MCSD affect the thermal analysis result?

When i make Thermal to analysis the optical performance (MTF..), the value of MCSD will affect the results.When i set the MCSD>SDIA, the thickness value of air gap will be different.Do you know how the MCSD affect the calculation of air gap thickness?

321

1 month ago

TdsorensSingle Emitter

asked in Got a question?

Tracing an EXPLICIT ray in Sequential Mode

Is there a way to trace an Explicit ray (defined by x, y, z, l, m, n) instead of an Implicit Ray (defined by Hx, Hy, Px, and Py) in the Single Ray Trace Analysis or Merit Function?I am trying to trace a ray from Surface 1 with (0,0,0) coordinates and direction cosines (0,0,1) through a system with tilted and decentered mirrors making it such that the ray will not pass through the center of the pupil therefore making the implicit method ineffective.

532

1 month ago

SPJensenSingle Emitter

asked in Got a question?

Phase Errors Reconstructing .ZBF Text File

I used Matlab to write a .ZBF text file for POP. When Zemax reads the file in the irradiance is perfectly replicated but the phase is not; when non-zero the phase looks like random noise. This is very strange because you need to write the .ZBF file using Re and Im values for the field. Unless the Re and Im values are both correct in the file you can’t get the correct irradiance values. I have done this before and it worked so I had a friend with an older version of Zemax installed (22.1.2) check the same file. His version of Zemax correctly replicated the phase. I am using version 2023 R1.03 on a windows machine. Any ideas as to why this is happening? Did the .ZBF format change? Is there now a setting I need to adjust in Zemax when I import a file? Is this a known problem that has been fixed in an update? Matlab intensity:Zemax IntensityMatlab PhaseMy Zemax Phase:Old Zemax Phase:

301

1 month ago

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