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Determining optical path length in non-sequential mode

  • 9 November 2023
  • 3 replies
  • 108 views

Hello, I am trying to measure and plot the optical path length of light propegating through a curved material using non-sequential mode. My goal is to be able to measure the distance of the path taken from the light source, through the material, and onto the detector in the far field.  

I have been attempting to gather this with the NSRA operand which has the ability to display this data (data 17) however, I have not been successful in plotting to the 1D universal plot. I have selected the x variable to be the location on the detector (x ½ width) and y variable to be the NSRA operand with the following settings: 

This however, leads to an error in the plot:

I am unsure if this is the best way to collect the optical path lengths of the system or if there is another way to measure this value using NSC mode. 

Thanks!

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Best answer by MichaelH 14 November 2023, 18:12

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Userlevel 6
Badge +2

Hi Lauren,

How many Analysis Rays are you using for your Source #4?  NSRA requires only 1 analysis ray so it’s typically only useful for Source Ray (for an extended source, the single analysis ray that is traced might not be what you’re expecting due to Sobol sampling and a fixed seed for ray tracing via the MFE).

Also, are you able to get the NSRA to return a value from the MFE directly without trying to change the detector size?

Hi Michael, 

I did previously had a source rectangle as my Source #4, but have tried altering it to Source Ray to see if that would resolve the issue. I have not been able to return a value from the MFE, however, I am not too familiar with using it. I inputed the same values for the NSRA editor but cannot seem to get a value out. I am not sure what problem is occuring. 

Userlevel 6
Badge +2

Hi Lauren,

Before focusing on the Universal Plot, you should focus on the Merit Function Editor.

The most likely error for NSRA is you’re:

  • selecting the wrong Source
  • the Source you selected has more than 1 # of Analysis Rays
  • the Seg# is outside the number of segments for the ray

Once you have NSRA working in the MFE, then you can move over to the Universal Plot.

If you upload your file, the community can help debug it better.

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