Hello Zemax Community!I have been looking at the tolerancing for an achromatic doublet design, and had a question regarding the positioning of the elements post-tolerancing. In some cases, the front surface of the 2nd element of the lens will move in front of the back surface of the second element of the lens. Is there a way to control thicknesses such that the doublet surfaces are physically in sequence? The first image below highlights the position of the back surface of the first lens element, and the second image highlights the position of the front surface of the second lens element.

We use zemax to simulate a galvo scanner geometry in mixed mode NSC. Almost all seqential analyses work in mixed mode. However the paraxial magnification gets messed up. I am pretty certain this is due to the beam beeing turned in the nsc component. In the depicted example an object point (0,1) gets imaged to (-1,0). Apperently this can be corrected by setting the “Exit Tilt Z” for the non sequential component to a value that object points on the x-axis are imaged to image points on the x-axis.However the documentation says “The radial magnification, being the ratio of paraxial image height to object height”. My impression is, that zemax internally uses vector components instead of “heights”. 

Please consider adding an “Ignore Lateral Color” clickbox in the Ray Fan utility for enhanced spectrometer analysis.  I’d like to see how aberrations vary for each different wavelength without having them offset in Ray Fan plots.Mike 

In OpticStudio 22.1, we have improved the performance of our ray aiming algorithm for innovative applications that require a wide field-of-view (such as machine vision, surveillance cameras on drones, autonomous vehicles as well as cell phone lenses). Significant improvements have been made to address issues such as “cannot trace” errors and discontinuities in analyses that can occur when using ray aiming. These improvements are referred to as Enhanced Ray Aiming, and with the 22.1 release, we are first supporting rotationally symmetric wide field-of-view systems.The OpticStudio 22.1 release also features one exciting new Feature Experiment, called the Ray Aiming Wizard. This tool provides the necessary data for you to determine the optimal ray-aiming settings for your system, including the new Enhanced Ray Aiming method. With the new Ray Aiming Wizard, you will know when and how to use ray aiming to get accurate system analysis and modeling. You can find this tool in the Ray

 上图为导入的相位数据，为偏轴相位分布，即聚焦位置不在光轴上，下图为其效果图 在计算系统的传递函数的时候，按理点扩散函数的位置应该在偏轴处，但是点扩散函数的截面图显示在中心位置但是在三维psf的文本描述中，其参考坐标的位置为理论上的psf的位置，zemax是会默认将脉冲的位置作为原点吗还是我的设置有问题

Dear ZEMAX Staff and fellow Zemaxers!My question might be very silly/simple, but I have limited experience in non-sequential mode. I noticed this issue for few days, and I have tried all the tricks that I could think of. I guess it's now a good time to check with the experienced users. Maybe my struggles are quite straightforward to you.I have this optical system that light from a filament source was collected by a condenser. After passing through the slit (I made using an Air gap nested in absorber). The beam will be reflected through prism mirror then travel upwards. Here is the issue: When I use the filament source even it emits randomly, the layout always captures/displays the beam that follows the optical axis of the system. However, when I changed the light source to a Cree LED that I created based on supplier datasheet. Even the beams are still random, but there is never a beam will follow the optical axis anymore. Please refe

Hi, I set up the vortex phase metasurface and would like to generate a circular beam. I have the correct phase distribution at the metasurface position, but I am getting a very strange tracing image that is off center. The POP propagation shows a round bright spot rather than a ring. What am I doing wrong?Kind regards,Mery

I've been performing a tolerance analysis on some of my designs. In my tolerance results, I ran into a bug where the output is always the nominal value. I verified that the output should change by adjusting the values in the LDE. However, when I run the Monte Carlo or sensitivity analysis there is no change. Example: My TDE contains TTHI to change the distance from object to lens. My merit function contains operand RSRE to find the RMS radius of the image. Nominal is 8.092mm, when I change the thickness to the extreme of the tolerances in the LDE, the spot changes from 10.322mm to 5.773mm. So, I know that the thickness changes the spot. If I run the monte carlo, or sensitivity analysis with the criterion set to my merit function. The sensitivity says there is no change with TTHI, and the monte carlo only outputs 8.092mm (nominal). I recreated my file multiple times and sometimes operands work and sometimes they don't. Any ideas on what is happening?

Hi Experts, I want to check the OPD different of different configurations. But I found that I can only check the OPD within one configuration only. I just need the OPD different of the chief rays of different configuration.Any ideas of it will be appreciated. Thanks!

Hi I am curious if anybody in the community knows what this means, I’ve never seen it before…. After optimizing the mechanical semi-diamter and chip zones on this surface disappeared and an asterisk appeared next to the clear semi-diameter value. I’m not sure what’s going on here… I had a pickup solve for mechanical semi-diameter on the following surfaces and when this happened them seem to have automatically changed to picking up the clear semi-diameter.  Thanks EDIT: The radii for the two adjacent surfaces (of the surface in question) in the image were getting very small, almost hyper-hemispherical, and when I manually changed them to a larger value the mechanical semi-diameter came back and the asterisk went away…. still curious what happened if anybody knows. 

Hi,A friend recently asked me how to get highly aspheric “freeform” surfaces made, and specifically how to create jobfiles for various CNC machines given an OpticStudio prescription. I advised him to look at Diffsys, as I once knew the developer of the program (long since lost contact) and as it’s owned by Precitech I thought it was a no-brainer choice.He basically laughed at me (we’re good friends) so I downloaded the demo from the Precitech website and I see what he means. It’s very much a 1990s product still available for purchase.Does anyone here use it, and if so with what success? Is there a better program that I should be recommending?Mark

I’m facing a weird problem while exporting .igs files from both sequential and non-sequential designs.When importing into Solidworks 2017 all doublets have one of the two components transformed into a full sphere.Moreover, an empty part is imported togheter with the design assembly.I don’t know if its a matter of lack of compatibility with old Solidworks version, or just me having the sw configured in a bad way.  

I have an on axis parabolic mirror that I would like to model a hole into for non-sequential mode so the rays can pass through to the rest of the system.  What is the best way to achieve this? 

Hi zemaxers I am trying to do a line scan optical system image simulation. And the first thing I thought is multi-configuration. It makes different layouts to show as one visually, but I am wondering is it possible to show different image surfaces to show as one in sequential mode or different detectors as one in non-sequential mode? I checked the zemax help but did not find the solution. Could you kindly give me some advice on it ?Thanks Yang

Hello,          I am setting up an optical system with a CAD object with unknown curvature and I want to determine where a baseline ray and a ray at some other field angle crosses.  I would like to do this to generate a “best focus range” so I may determine the best position for a reflective flat surface.  I can manually find these points, but is there a way to find these points using an operand or some other feature?Method:I first define a point where three Source Ray sources are positioned incident on the CAD object.I use one of the rays to be the baseline ray to find the focus.I then want to find where the baseline ray crosses with the other two rays as these will be two different points. Thanks for the help.

Hello,          I saw a post from Sandrine from two years ago that Zemax staff are able to convert .RS8 files to RSMX format.If you all are still able to do this would you be so kind as to convert this file?https://www.cree-led.com/document-library/?_document_search=xp-p

Hi ZemaxersI am learning to do an image simulation in non-sequential mode.but not sure whether I am right, could you give me some advice?what I did1) set the slide object after the source2) use detector rectangle to analysis3) ray tracing3) show the radiant intensity in detector viewerMy question1) is the step above all right?2) the result the detector viewer shows includes aberrations?Thank you in advance! 

Is there a way to plot/save the complex part of the refraction index of a (multilayer) coating? I can find the complex refraction index for a single layer of  a coating in the COATING.DAT, but not for multilayer coatings. Moreover, encrypted coating do not have details on their single layers, so I cannot reconstruct anyway the complex refraction index.  

Hello Zemax Community!I have important news regarding your Zemax OpticStudio products. Ansys Zemax is dedicated to ensuring that we offer the best possible optical design workflow and user experience that allows you to bring your products to market faster. As such, 2025 R1 (January 2025) will be our last release where you will be able to save to the .ZOS file format in Ansys Zemax OpticStudio. We have made the choice as of 2024 R2 (July 2024) release to begin writing the same content type as found in the .ZMX file format to the .ZOS file format to begin the file type transition. The .ZMX file format will also replace the .ZOS file format as the default save option in Ansys Zemax OpticStudio.This change aligns with requests from long-term customers who have come to rely and depend on the product over decades and have chosen to have the .ZMX file as their format of choice.  For some cu

Hi, simple system: SM fiber, lens, SM fiber. I want to offset the receiving fiber by a certain amount using a coordinate break. Doing so, I expect the POPD beam profile to be 'off-center' by exactly this offset. However, it looks as if the beam profile is not considering the Coordinate break. Coupling is calculated correctly. Any solution for that? Best, Jörg

hello. I am a beginner zemax user.I am studying.Obtain a sample source file that demonstrates the laser going out as a line using a laser diode and Powell lens.I would like to know how to set up a laser diode.I would like to request a simple sample file with a structure similar to the attached image.thank you  

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 ZEMA

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.