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Distortion Focal Length in Field curvature and distortion plot

  • August 23, 2023
  • 2 replies
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yuan.chen
Zemax Staff
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According to the description in helpfile, the distortion focal length is calculated by tracing real rays but with small fields definition, for both situations. 
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The distortion focal length can be decided by Yref and tanθ(take F-Tan(theta))as example. 
Yref:  The reference ray height is computed by tracing a real ray from a very small field height, and then scaling the results as required. Using operand RAGY can extract the height value at image surface.
tanθ: use (REAB/REAC) to calculate this value. Note that θ is the angle in object space.
 
Get distortion focal length according to the equation: f= Yref/tanθ
837bc947-d4bf-43ad-8b8d-db8b05971184.png
Take \Zemax\Samples\Sequential\Objectives\Wide angle 100 degree field.zmx as example. 


And another example system with finite object distance: 
\Zemax\Samples\Sequential\Objectives\Double Gauss 28 degree field.zmx Object distance 400. 

 

Best answer by yuan.chen

Please keep in mind that the field curvature uses the paraxial rays to calculate.

How does the field curvature and distortion calculate the tan and sag value | Zemax Community

Here I made a summary table:

Field curvature Paraxial ray Small height in pupil py= 0, py = 0.00001
Distortion Parabasal ray Small height in field hy=0, hy = 0.00001

2 replies

yuan.chen
Zemax Staff
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  • Author
  • Zemax Staff
  • 278 replies
  • Answer
  • August 23, 2023

Please keep in mind that the field curvature uses the paraxial rays to calculate.

How does the field curvature and distortion calculate the tan and sag value | Zemax Community

Here I made a summary table:

Field curvature Paraxial ray Small height in pupil py= 0, py = 0.00001
Distortion Parabasal ray Small height in field hy=0, hy = 0.00001

yuan.chen
Zemax Staff
Forum|alt.badge.img+3
  • Author
  • Zemax Staff
  • 278 replies
  • September 25, 2023