Hello AllIs anybody other than myself experiencing this issue:Since installing Ansys Zemax, I can only open one instance of the software…..very cumbersome way to operate.

I am not reliably able to find the source files that I create in the drop down menu that is used to specify the file to use for the SOURCE FILE surface type in non-sequential mode.Doesn’t seem to use the Object sFolder specified in the Project Preferences . Does anybody know where the source files that you create should be stored. Why can’t Zemax simply allow the user to type the path and filename instead of having to interface through a GUI dropdown menu.  I have spent may hours trying to do this. Thanks.

Hi all,     I tried to figured out the difference between the chief ray definition by the classical books and the convention by ZEMAX.      chief ray definition from Arizona Universitychief ray difinition on SPIE website chief ray convention from ZEMAX manual the chief ray, by SPIE and Arizona University, is defined to pass through the center of the aperture stop. whereas, is defined to pass through the center of the entrance pupil. the difference causes a lot of troubles using ZEMAX. Can anybody explain this to me ?

Like a previous poster here, I had an educational license for zemax last year. I am an astronomer leading some students through a project and we’d like to use zemax. My previous license expired in February, but I haven’t gotten any help from an inquiry sent to Ansys about renewal. I also tried emailing the zemax support address, and got a reply that because I’m not on a commercial license, I can’t expect any help from them! It’s kind of baffling. If you don’t want to support educational use fine, but stop pretending you do.

Dear All,I have a problem of installation ZEMAX-OpticStudio 16.5 SP1 on the computer with the processor i9-12900KF. The computer works on Windows 11. A black screen with the message that the computer has problem and must be restarted was obtained at the end of the installation. The program was installed and some windows like lens data can be opened. But, when the MTF window was opened the program stops working and closes. I am ready to pay for solution of the problem. Send me email to info@mark-electro-optics.com.Sincerely,Mark Gokhler Ph.D 

Dear all,I have a problem about the Zemax 16 installtation on the win11.When I first install the file 16.0.0 OpticStudio_Prerequisites, it always crashes during the installation so that it cannot be installed completely. I have updated the file Directx_Jun2010 already. But it seems not useful for this case. Although we can install the Zemax 16, it cannot show some analysis like spot diagram, MTF, that is, black screen.Could anyone meet this problem before and solve it already? 

It is learned from zemaxmanual that FFT MTF is calculated from FFT PSF or FFT LSF, while FFT PSF/LSF is calculated from pupil data. As pupil sampling 2(64x64) is concerned, we can get 128x128 PSF data or 1x128 LSF data on image. When I deal these PSF/LSF data with FFT method directly, I find two problems: Only 64 MTF data with different frequency can be get. However, there are more MTF data in FFT MTF vs frequency curve. Does Zemax perfrom a curve fitting with PSF/LSF data before FFT or a curve fitting with MTF data after FFT?At the same frequency, MTF value get by directly FFT with FFT PSF/LSF data is always higher than MTF value get by FFT MTF curve. And with frequency rising,  the gap will be larger. What’s the reason?

Nominal Criteria cannot be computed, during tolerancing

Hi there Zemax community, I have some far-field information (Ex,Ey,Ez, Hx, Hy,Hz) for a point emitter which I have extracted from a FDTD simulation. I would like to now use these components in order to generate a source model for my FDTD point source using Zemax in non-sequential mode. As far as I understand it, I should use the Poynting flux instead of the field components for describing my source profile within Zemax right? Also, I could use some rope in finding some reference on how to use the extracted far-field information (which can be given in spherical coordinates) to set a distribution of rays, which represent the far-field energy flux for my FDTD source in non-sequential mode.Any comments and help will be appreciated! 

The tolerancing wizard applies to single surfaces and single optical elements. However, in some situations the optical elements are mechanically coupled, like in the case where several lenses are mounted in a tube. During assembly the tilt of the tube translates into tilt of the lenses therein contained.How can I apply decenters and tilts to groups of optical elements? I suspect that a coordinate break before and after the group could lead to a possible solution, but would like to know the default/best way to do it.Thank you!

Hey,I received a .ZOS file but, since I have an old ZEMAX version, I cannot open it (only .ZMX). Can someone please help me converting the file to .ZMX? Thanks in advance

Here shows a simple example to demonstrate how we can read a DLL from MATLAB. This can be useful for testing how the DLL works without really loading it into OpticStudio.The steps to quickly go through this is as belowExtract the zip file to a folder. Copy the grin1.dll from \Zemax\DLL\GradientIndex\ to the folder in step 1. Set up the position and parameters in the .m file as below.   Run the MATLAB code and see the results as below.   Some key points.(1) Need to prepare a .h file with same name as the DLL.(2) Need to write the function you want to call in this .h file. You can just copy this from grin1.c file.(3) Need to remove the APIENTRY keyword from the function.(4) You need to convert the data to a pointer and pass it to the DLL.(5) When reading it, you need to copy the data from the pointer again.(6) This is only needed if the variable is supposed to be written by the DLL and you need to read back the data. Otherwise, you can simply pass the MATLAB array to the function call. 

I have an issue when bringing STEP or IGES files into Solidworks.  The problem occurs when Solidworks has 2 different files imported, the second one that gets imported shows up in Solidworks with only the rays from the first one, and lenses of the first one along with some of the lenses of the first system.I think this is because the rays and lenses all get the same generic object names in the STEP/IGES file.  Is there any way to have Zemax create unique names? 

Hello Community,I use Zemax version 23.1.3 and Autodesk Inventor Professional 2022. I have no previous experience in exporting design as STEP file so I followed these articles 1 and 2 but i am unable to see the rays when the STEP file is opened using Inventor. I have also tried to disable the option “Use ACIS Libraries” but it was of no help. Has anyone else experienced this problem ? Is there any way to solve this. 

HiThe surface properties window keep opening up as soon as I click on one of the surface type cell in the lens data editor .Same thing for the MF Editor.Is there an option somewhere to avoid this?Thank you Renaud

Hello,Thank you for the helpful article on this topic here: https://support.zemax.com/hc/en-us/articles/1500005575602-How-to-reverse-an-optical-system!I have two follow-up questions:Is it possible to reverse a system containing a black box surface? What figures of merit (e.g. pupil aberration?) could one check to make sure the reversal worked properly? 

How do you define S polarization, P polarization, TE polarization0, TM polarization, X polarization, Y polarization?

Is there a way to optimize in NSC mode with a filter string? I realize this can be accomplished with a ZPL or API, but I’m hoping to just use the native merit function.More specifically, I want to find the source input angle that maximizes stray light that reflects off a particular mechanical component. If I could apply the filter string to the detector results in the MFE, this would be a simple optimization….Thanks in advance for any advice,John 

Is it possible to design chamfered optical elements, like in the left lens in the attached picture?  If so, how should I define the mechanical semi-diameters to achieve this?Chamfered lens 

I am trying to find out the optimal distance between the last lens across an image plane 40 mm in diameter.When I try to plot the MTF it shows that the sampling rate is too low. Thank you in advance for any help.**Files for reference are given Below**Thank You

I have a two lens system collimating light from source and focusing it to the detector. The coordinate break before the two lenses are surf 3 and 8. I tried to use multiple compensators (x, y, z and tilt) to optimize. I saved the MC files and found none of the files have the compensated parameter changed from nominal, ie., the compensators doesn’t seem to work. Anything wrong with my TDE?Thanks.

Hello,I would like to know if I can use the sequential ‘zone plate’ surface to construct a staircase lens* with variable zone radii. Below shows an example with equally spaced radii. It’s not clear if the ‘extra data file’ can be used to include individual radii (help screenshot below).If the ‘zone plate’ surface won’t work, what would be suggested? Can the new composite surfaces be used to do this?I’m currently using a phase surface (Binary 2) to define ideal behavior, but want to convert to physical surface so I can use POP to simulate the diffraction efficiency.   * Staircase lens reference: https://opg.optica.org/ao/abstract.cfm?uri=ao-32-1-60Thank you,John

I am trying to get a lens to diverge a large amount, but due to size constrictions I have to keep the lens within the 3mm size. I am trying to have the system optimize the thickness, and curvatures to maximize the spot size (30 mm 10 mm away). How do you set up an optimization to maximize divergence/spot size?

Dear community, I have a 45-degree reflecting flat mirror in non-sequential mode, which simply changes the light path by 90 degrees, see below. When the “Tilt About Y” changed by 5 degrees, the reflected light was re-directed by 10 degrees. This is expected from fundamental geometric optics. However, when the “Tilt About X” changed by 5 degrees, the light was re-directed (in the vertical direction, or along Y axis) by around 7 degrees, see below. So I didn’t see an expected 10-degree change here... Could you please shine me some light on this issue? Some notes:A .zar file was attached. The ~7-degree change reminds me of a coefficient of 1/sqrt(2). I am not sure this comes from fundamental geometric optics or from my incorrect setup. I checked the Y-coordinates of mirror vertices, which are the same as if 45-degree “Tilt About Y” absent. This is to double-check when something funny happens with compound rotation (matrices). The local axis seems to be correct, see below. Regards,Jiang

Hello,I have an configuration of Lenslet array (Lenslet Array 2) in NSC Component in Seqential mode. I would like to see propagating beam on POP Display of 10x10 mm X,Y Width and sampling 1024px or more. Entrance Pupil Diameter is 10 mm, so from infinity arrive a ray buch impinging the NSC Component. This NSC component has 1 mm thickness. What shall I set for the Ref Object or the Inside Of parameters, and what shell I set  for Exit Loc Z and Back Propagation Distance in the Lens Data Editor, if I want see the matrix of focuses on the above meant POP Display? Thank you for advices. Michal