Hello, I have a question similar to post “dichroic mirror in NSC mode”.  In that question, the supplied example is not in one single configuration, which the emitted light and the excitation light are seperated. I am having trouble simulating the same configuaration but with one dichroic mirror. I followed the example “How to model fluorescence using bulk scattering”, but the coating on the dichroic mirror does not seem to function on the back surface (Sample side, Green in the figure). Even if I put a reflective surface at the back surface, the incoming ray (black in the figure) from the source side will hit that surface and reflect away. How should I avoid this sitation?  I would like to have the source sending ray transmitting through a 45 degree dichroic mirror, hitting the sample, reflect back to the other surface of the dichroic, and reflect to 90 degree respect to source (upward in the figure). Is that possible? It seems to be an easy task, but I don’t have a solution.  Thank yo

In non-sequential mode, I’ve created a circle of rectangles arranged around a light source (not shown). I’ve used the Paramter “Tilt About Y” to orient the rectangles’ faces toward the center. Now, I’m trying to tilt the rectangles 10° toward the central axis, but I’ve only been able to achieve this for objects #4  (highlighted) and #10. When I attempt to tilt the other rectangles forward, e.g. object #1 (centered in the screenshot), all I can accomplish is to rotate the rectangles clockwise or counterclockwise. Changing the values in “Tilt About X” and “Tilt About Z” seems to have the same effect. How can I make all the rectangles tilt towards the center, just like #4 and #10? 

In some surface types (e.g. ABCD or Conjugate), the standard parameters (e.g. Radius and Conic) are ‘blanked out’. A value entered into those cells is instantly erased returning the cell to blank.Can this behaviour be programmed in a UDS?CY

I would find it very helpful if the face coating could be added as an option in the ray database viewer.Also, calculating the relative intensity from the prior surface is quite handy. An example made in excel is shown below. Thanks for considering!-John

In my optical setup, I have a standard 4f setup with  plano-convex lenses with focal lenght of 300mm . After focusing it, I found out that i have a huge field curvature. To reduce this i designed a setup with two sets of planocovex lenses with focal lenght  of 600mm (to have almost the same propagation lenght of 1200mm) thereby reducing the petzval field curvature.  Eventhough the field curvature was reduced by a factor of 3, the field curvature is still signinfiact. The 3rd approach was to design custom lenses. I was working with 2 pair of lenses and was using REAR and FCUR to reduce the field curvature. When i look into the seidel graph there is no field curvature. But when i focus it using a paraxial lens, i can see there is noticable field curvature. Is there any was to reduce this further atleast lower than the half of the rayleigh length.

Hello everyone, I'm interested in finding out more details on the Huygens PSF method. The OpticStudio Help claims that 'a grid of rays is launched through the optical system'. Here I would like to know, what algorithm is used for the actual propagation. How are the abberations of all optical components accounted for? Are they propagated as rays, by paraxial propagation or by actually using Huygens formula? It would be very helpful if anybody could clarify this detail. Thanks a lot in advance, best wishes

Hi all, I receive this error message when trying to save an image of an analysis window. I recently installed the latest OpticStudio release. Any ideas how to fix this?

In non-sequential mode, is it possible to view only a portion of the segments of a ray?I’d like view only segments after hitting a particular surface.You can filter by hitting a surface, but it always displays the entire sequence of rays.The functionality I’m after is similar to specifying the ‘First Surface’ and ‘Last Surface’ in the sequential viewers. Thank you,John

I am trying to define a Phase Retarding Mirror in NS mode that transform diagonal polarized light into circular polarized light. We managed to create a working model using Arp Ars on the coating definition, but if I rotate the mirror on the Z axis, there is no change on the outgoing polarization state. Is there a more accurate way to define the retardance of the mirror?

Hello Zemax Community,I’m trying to understand the meaning of the numerical value displayed in “AXCL” and how it’s calculated. The definition I found states: “This is the image separation between the two wavelengths defined by Wave1 and Wave2,” but I’m still unsure how to interpret that in practice.In my lens design, for example, the maximum focal shift is around 256.0465 µm, yet AXCL shows a value of -0.044014. I’m not sure what the negative sign means or why AXCL is so much smaller than the focal shift I see elsewhere. Is AXCL supposed to represent the chromatic focal shift, or is it defined differently? Any clarification on how AXCL is computed and what it physically represents in an optical system would be greatly appreciated!Thank you in advance for your help and insights.  

Hello everyone,How can I control the image plane height in an optical design? I am trying to determine it using the REAY operand, but while it works in some designs, I don’t always get the desired result in others.For example, in my design, the image plane semi-diameter is 0.2, but the Hy value I get using the REAY operand is 0.167, and the Py value is -0.012. However, I have noticed that this method does not always work consistently.What is the most reliable way to directly control the image plane height in this case? Are there any alternative methods I can use?Thanks in advance!

I have an odd application that requires a Plano/Fresnel lens collimator, with the Fresnel surface located on the Focus-side rather than the collimated side as is most common.  My steps for setting up the model were as follows:I started out with a normally oriented (albeit janky) setup with the Fresnel lens set as an Non-Sequential Component in Mixed Mode.  Next, I rotated the lens 180 about X to get the Fresnel surface on the Focus-side Lastly, I inverted the Radius of the Fresnel1 surface to get the rays to converge to a rough focus.  When I flipped the sign on the radius, I received an error message conveying that my Exit Port surface has been missed (also illustrated in the 3D viewer, where rays stop at the Exit Port).  I also tried replacing Step 2 above with inverting the Thickness on the Fresnel1 surface, but received the same error message.Honestly haven’t worked in Mixed Mode much, so it is probably something simple that I’m missing.  Any guidance it greatly appreciated.  Step

Hello,I am having an issue with defining multiple pressure environments in a single configuration. I have seen other folks ask a similar question on this topic in the forum before but I seem to have ran into an issue that I can’t seem to resolve. I am using Zemax version 2024 R2.For the following configuration I have 8 surfaces (see images). I want surfaces 0-3 to be in a 1 ATM pressure environment. I then want surfaces 4-7 to be in a 0 ATM environment. I use the multi-config editor to set this up.I first add a PRES operand to define a 0 ATM environment. I then list GLSS operands for surfaces 4 to 7 to state that I want these surfaces to be in the 0 ATM environment. I then add another PRES operand set to 1 ATM. My understanding is that this will set all other surfaces not listed in the MC to 1 ATM (surfaces 0 to 3). This final PRES operand also defines the global system pressure as seen in the environment tab in the system explorer. What’s odd to me, is when I look at index of refracti

I designed a zoom system of 10x [min mag = 1/sqrt(10) and max mag = sqrt(10)] with PNPP configuration in which lens group 2 & 3 are moving with fixed BFL. Ideally the Angular Magnification should be increasing in zoom system. But in my case initially it is increasing then decreases(rapidly) then again it starts increasing (like from 0.2 - 0.9 then comes to 0.5, again increases 0.5-0.8). And also lens movements are also like S for both moving lenses. How to figure out the movements and magnification?

Hi everyone, Here is a post to collect any of your feedback or questions about the new feature of TM-25 rayfiles.In Zemax OpticStudio 24 R2.0, we support TM-25 rayfiles with extension filename .tm25ray. You can access this file format with following functions:* Save Rays in Raytrace Dialog* Source File Object* Save Rays On Object in Ray Database Viewer* Source Directivity Plot* Source Polar Plot* Flux vs. Wavelength* Light Source Analysis (sequential mode) In addition, when the TM-25 rayfile is exported by Zemax OpticStudio, now the phase and complete electric field (Ex, Ey, Ez) will be exported too. This is important when the rayfile is supposed to be used in a polarization-sensitive applications or coherent analysis. It’s highly suggested you read the new content in Help File in this section. The Setup Tab » Editors Group (Setup Tab) » Non-sequential Component Editor » Non-sequential Sources » Source File for more information. In below, we are going to provide a couple of examples to

Hello there friends from the Zemax community,I have been using a bit the Cardinal lens DLL file to model a perfect imaging lens which images an on axis point  at an optimal paraxial magnification value.After reading the paper in where the Cardinal lens model is presented: https://opg.optica.org/ao/fulltext.cfm?uri=ao-63-4-1110&id=546054, I set up my system using similar settings to what is described in the section: Finite conjugate imaging from the paper.Following what is described in that section, I observe that the optimal paraxial magnification value is equal to the ratio of the object space NA to the image space NA.In my case, my on-axis point is defined in air with an object cone angle of 30 degrees. The image space NA is equal to the NA of a single mode fiber operating at 1.55 microns. (NA=0.12) (At the end I want to model the coupling of light from a point into a SMF) With this I obtain the paraxial magnification value that I need, and I optimize the system while using the C

Hi all,Does any one know why calculation of the refractive index vs the temperature is different between the two softwares?I’m not asking for glasses that have different parameters, (the reason is obvious) but for glasses which have same parameters and ways of calculation. Results are the same across the spectrum but not when the temperature changes.You can try almost any Schott glasses as parameters are given by the vendor for both softwares.It’s a bit frustrating. 😀

Version 24.1 NSC Shaded Model hangs up big time, especially after I minimize it then restore it.  No response at all to mouse or keyboard.  I have to kill it and restart it.When will this bug be fixed?  This is a BUG, not a feature.  Please repair in an interim release.Mike 

TheSystem.LDE.GetSurfaceAt(1). Radius; TheSystem.LDE.GetSurfaceAt(1). Thickness; TheSystem.LDE.GetSurfaceAt(1). SemiDiameter; TheSystem.LDE.GetSurfaceAt(1). ChipZone; TheSystem.LDE.GetSurfaceAt(1). Conic; TheSystem.LDE.GetSurfaceAt(1). TCE; TheSystem.LDE.GetSurfaceAt(1). Comment; TheSystem.LDE.GetSurfaceAt(1). Material; TheSystem.LDE.GetSurfaceAt(1). Coating; The above code can get and set values of Radius, Thickness, SemiDiameter, ChipZone, Conic, TCE; strings of Comment, Material, Coating. get_add_coating_tool=TheSystem.LDE.GetTool_AddCoatingsToAllSurfaces(); get_add_coating_tool.CoatingToAdd= 'None'; TheSystem.LDE.RunTool_AddCoatingsToAllSurfaces(get_add_coating_tool); get_add_coating_tool.CoatingToAdd= 'AR'; TheSystem.LDE.RunTool_AddCoatingsToAllSurfaces(get_add_coating_tool); In the above code: use tool Add Coating To All Surfaces to remove all coatings use tool Add Coating To All Surfaces to add ‘AR’ coating to all surface ​​​​Accessible tools include: RunTool_ConvertLoc

Is Dichroic Beam splitter in a converging beam generates bad spot in transmitted beam? If so how to get a good one. For an imaging system how to handle the aberrations generated by BS at 45deg when it is placed between the sensor and optics mainly transmitted one?

Hello everyone,I have already designed a microscope objective with the following characteristics:Working Distance: 200 mm Effective Focal Length: 40 mmNow, I need to design a simple tube lens with the following requirement:f_tube lens+f_objective​=Lwhere L is the distance between the two lenses.My goal is to align the front focal point of the objective with the back focal point of the tube lens at the aperture stop.Is there a solution to achieve this ?Thank you in advance.Rasoul

I wanted to check on some bugs I reported some time ago but, with the ANSYS merge and the freeze of the old bug database, I cannot see any bugs I reported on the new customer support page because the support is done by a third party.I can still access the old bug page but of course it’s outdated.I find it quite weird to ask us to create an account on the new support site for having this account left zero functionality. I don’t want to contact a third party just to check on the status of years old bug, it should be instant (it used to be)Can someone from here tell me simply if these bugs are fixed in 2025 R1.01 ?56796: crash with right-click options in the Universal Plot submenus. This one was reported and confirmed in 2022 and I can still see it in 2024 R2.01. Circumstances for it to happen are unlikely, so not critical. 63728: FFT MTF for field 1 being wrong when “Show Diffraction Limit” is ticked. Reported and confirmed in 2023. This one I am most interested in having an update. I en

I am wondering which specifications must be filled to make a non sequential setup thermal. Simply put I use a single incident (10°) on a rectangular volume with material with thermal data.Changing the temperature of the system in the explorer, even on a wide range of temperatures, does not make the ray refract at different angles, but the 3D view stays the same whatever the environement temperature. I tried to modify the thermal data of the glass to make it even more respondent to temperature change but still no change.Am I missing something ?  

When using a ray database in the NSC Shaded model viewer, are the checkboxes for Use Polarization/Split NSC Rays and Scatter NSC Rays still relevant ?Because from what I understand those parameters are set when the rays are traced and saved to the ZRD file, so I’d expect those to be irrelevant later on   

Hi, I am relatively new in optics and OpticStudio. I am trying to simulate the spot size at certain distance from a lens while using a fibre as source. Spot size changes as we move the image plane further from the lens as expected. But I am not seeing it change as I move the image plane from 330mm to 600mm. Not sure why. Second question is when I do a quick fucus, it doesn’t bring the image plane in the focus. But when I set the Thickness cell to marginal ray height it does move the image plane to the right position. Any help will be highly appreciated. Thank you.