Hi Lukas,

You could try reversing the system design, but in that case your field points would become ideal point sources propagating to the image plane (which you would then treat as your actual source plane, so you would try to optimize the optical path to best mimic your actual source distribution when all fields are combined together).

Or, you could consider a forward-path design and use a set of apertures to isolate your individual target image locations.  This could be done by applying an aperture in front of the image plane and using the Multi-Configuration Editor (MCE) to define a set of configurations, each one decentering the aperture to a specific target location.  This way you can locally isolate each of your target image plane locations.  In the Merit Function Editor (MFE) you can then use the CENY operand for each configuration to calculate (or optimize) the set of local y-centroids.

Regards,

Jeff

Hi Lukas,

I can try, but first it would be helpful if you can supply a copy of your model or a more complete description of exactly what you are trying to accomplish.

Thanks,

Jeff 

Hi Lukas,

I still don’t fully understand what your proposed optical path looks like.  All I see are some rays originating from a small region and fanning out to a distant illumination plane.

In any event, to use one field to generate an array of beams, it would seem that you need some sort of a splitting function.  This could be a lens array that takes a collimated laser beam and creates an array of focused spots in the back focal plane; those focused spots can then be collimated and directed into different angles with a subsequent larger-diameter single lens.  Or, it could be a diffraction grating that splits a collimated beam into multiple angles.  You may have a different way, but if the entire set of beams in the array are simultaneously present, then to calculate the centroids of the individual spots/beams at the illumination plane, you can use the Multi-Configuration Editor (MCE) to create a set of apertures, so that each configuration isolates one beam.

Here is an example in which I generate a 5 x 5 array of focused spots with a lens array, then collimate these spots into beams propagating in 25 different directions.  To isolate an individual beam at the illumination (image) plane, I simply place a small aperture, roughly centered, on the beam of interest using the APDY operand in the MCE.  The aperture is big enough to pass the entire individual beam, but it blocks all of the other beams.  The CENY merit function operand for the corresponding configuration then calculates the y-centroid for that particular beam.

Here’s a zoom view of the front-end optics:

Regards,

Jeff

Hi Lukas,

I don’t know what you mean when you say that optimization doesn’t quite work out as desired.  It should be okay.  The spots are isolated by configuration, so you can add whatever operands you like to the merit function to adjust the individual spot properties in some particular fashion for your application.  The variables in your optical path (i.e., the ones that you select for optimization) should be chosen so that when they change, the merit function operands change in a sensible way.  For example, if you want independent control over spot positions, then your optical system should be constructed so that it provides a sufficient number of independent variables.  If a variable is strongly coupled to multiple spot locations, then it’s not a good candidate for setting the positions of the spots independently from one another.  But I leave that detail up to you…

Regards,

Jeff