Hello again Zemax community,I am trying to import a freeform surface into Zemax but I am experiencing the following difficulties:My freeform surfaces are externally generated and these are constructed by parameterizing the surface by the distance from the origin the points on the surface. As a consequence, this can result in surface profiles which do not have a single height value for a given x and y coordinate. You can take a look to an example of the type of freeform surface that I am generating: One way in which you can think of this surface is as a spherical base surface for which at each point, there exists a radial offset from the ideal spherical base.  After externally generating my freeform surface, I tried importing it into Zemax by using a .DAT (for sequential analysis) and a .GRD (non-sequential analysis) file.However, once I take a look to the sag profile using the Surface sag tool, I can clearly notice that the lower surface profile is lost. To me it seems that in this cas

Hi, Its really more of a productivity thing but I started to work on a polarization project and I often have to copy the data I have under System Explorer..Polarization into Analyze..Polarization..Polarization Pupil Map and this is sometimes a cause for error or misunderstanding. Is it possible to have a checkbox in Polarization Pupil Map (or all the Polarization analyses potentially) such that the analysis uses the same data as defined in the System Explorer, and by that I mean: Jx, Jy, X-Phase, and Y-Phase?Thank you :) David

Hello,I am struggling trying to export the 3d file of a microlens I design. The problem is that during the export, I have issues. I only see a 2d triangle whenever I open the exported STL file. I tryed also with other formats, and something changes, but I never see the microlens. Am I doing something wrong? I don’t want to see rays, just the micolens 3d file.Thank you very much,waiting for your answer.

Does anybody know where to start modeling a square multimode fiber with top hat output? I have attached a paper from Optoskand where they describe a fiber with a square core. Where the beam exits the fiber the intensity profile has a square top hat distribution.The beam has diverges out of the fiber, where the divergence angle is given by the BPP (beam parameter product) and core size.The beam propagating out of the fiber loses its top hat distribution. Collimating this beam and focusing it back in to a spot results again in a top hat distribution in the focal plane.What would be a good approach to model such a beam?

I am attempting to model an x-ray beamline in a Wolter Type III configuration where the beam strikes the mirrors at grazing incidence angles. The mirrors I’m modeling have curvature in one direction, but are flat in the other, so I believe I need to use biconic surfaces. But I am only able to get rays to trace through my system if I set the second mirror to be an ‘alternate even’ (or ‘alternate odd’) surface. If I change it to a biconic surface, then the rays no longer trace through the system. According to the single ray trace, when the rays reach the second biconic surface, they ‘miss’, but I believe this is only because Zemax is choosing the wrong side of the second mirror. Is there a way to force Zemax to choose the “alternate solution” (as it’s called in the documentation) for a biconic surface? Or is there some other way to get rays to trace through such a sysem?

Hello Everyone, I’d like to simulate a 48mm diameter beam (30mm 1/e^2) that is collimated using the source ellipse in non sequential mode, but I'm having trouble getting the distribution to appear gaussian. I’m attempting to calculate Gx and Gy using 2/sin^2(theta) where theta is the divergence angle but the distribution appears more flat top than gaussian. Am I approaching the problem wrong? I’d like to continue to use source ellipse if possible since I have other models with various beam sizes all using source ellipse currently. 

Here I can think of two possibilities:The tolerance is too loose, and we can consider setting tighter ones.  The option "Optimize All (DLS)" is selected, OpticStudio will execute one cycle of the Orthogonal Decent algorithm then execute the Damped Least Squares algorithm. And this one cycle of optimization could lead to the ray tracing failure. To avoid the first OD optimization, it could be done by loading the merit function in user script and optimize.  The commands are LOADMERIT and OPTIMIZE n. (mentioned in The Tolerance Tab » Tolerancing Overview » Using Tolerance Scripts » The Tolerance Script Commands)

I am currently engaged in the design of large-scale metasurfaces and am interested in utilizing Zemax to evaluate their performance. I came across a reference that seems to align with my objectives: https://optics.ansys.com/hc/en-us/articles/18254409091987-Large-Scale-Metalens-Ray-Propagation.My specific inquiry pertains to the possibility of conducting a scan along the axial (z) direction to accurately locate the focal point. I have observed that the actual focal point of the lens appears to be displaced, and manually adjusting the numbers to shift the image plane's location seems to have its limitations. Furthermore, I am interested in generating a plot similar to the thick curve depicted in the figure from the publication by Pedro Carpena and Ana V Coronado (2006, Eur. J. Phys. 27:231). This visualization would significantly aid in pinpointing the precise location where the metalens achieves optimal focus.Could you advise if there is a specific function within Zemax that facilitates

Hello,We have different values  between Footprint and PARR operand ( see below): on footprint : Max radius  = 0,1241 in Merit Function : PARR Surf 23 = 0.120how can we get the  value of the footprint in the Merit function?Thanks for your help, 

I got this error only when started using the last version Ray tracing works OK and I see the image on the detector. Whet setting merit function the error message says that this is an error in NSTR operand. The merit function is very simple#    Type    Int1    Int2    Hx    Hy    Px    Py    Ex    Ey    Target    Weight    Value    Contrib    1    NSDD    1    0    0,000000000000000E+000    0,000000000000000E+000    1,000000000000000E+000    0,000000000000000E+000    0,000000000000000E+000    0,000000000000000E+000    0,000000000000000E+000    0,000000000000000E+000    0,000000000000000E+000    0,000000000000000E+0002    NSTR    1    1    1,000000000000000E+000    1,000000000000000E+000    1,000000000000000E+000    1,000000000000000E+000    0,000000000000000E+000    0,000000000000000E+000    0,000000000000000E+000    0,000000000000000E+000    0,000000000000000E+000    0,000000000000000E+0003    NSDD    1    3    0,000000000000000E+000    0,000000000000000E+000    1,000000000000000E+000 

I’m relatively new to using Zemax and recently tried to optimize an aspheric lens using two extended asphere surfaces. During this process, I accidentally set the normalization radius as a variable and did not realize it until much later. I now have a negative normalization radius for both surfaces and was wondering what this means for the asphere surface? When looking at the sag of the asphere and switching the sign of the radius, nothing seems to change. However, the rays bend quite differently at the asphere surface depending on the sign. I thought this radius value was used for normalization of the coefficients, and considering all the coefficients are even, I didn’t think changing the sign would have an effect. Again, the sag does not seem to change, but the ways the rays bend on the layout change quite drastically.Picture of sag for positive radius.Picture of layout:  For a negative radius, sag (this looks identical to the positive case): Layout: For context, I am changing the no

I want to model a micro-lens array in NSC mode (clear aperture < pitch). I tried to use normal lens and array, but this create an array of lens with cylindrical sides (the space between two adjacent lenses is air) which will introduce TIR when AOI of rays exceed critical angle. In real case, the micro-lens array has one side flat and the other side an array of aspherical lenses with circular clear aperture, the substrate of the micro-lens array is a continuous slab so TIR won't happen between neighboring lenses (the space between two adjacent lenses is the lens substrate). How could I model the real case more accurately so TIR won't happen when light enter from one lens to the neighboring lens? I initially tried to use the lenslet array 1, but it has rectangular-shaped lens which is also not the same as what I want to model. 

Is anyone facing this weird bug?Steps to reproduce the UI bug:Open an empy lens file (sequential mode, if that matters) Tolerance > Tolerance Data Viewer (leave it empty, do not load any file) Setup > OpticStudio Preferences > OK or CancelThe UI freezes completely and no button can be pressed any more. I need to kill the application by left-click on the taskbar and “Close Windows”.Version: Ansys Zemax OpticStudio 2024 R1.00, but I know from a colleague this happens also with the non-Ansys version.

Hi,I would like to find the best way to make a cylinder object with a nano- or micro- pattern on front face.The pattern is like an array of pillars linearly arranged with a specified depth (like a grating).I wonder if I have to use the “Coat/Scatter” properties of the Cylinder object to define on Front Face a “User-defined” Scatter Model with a dedicated .DLL to design my pattern.But I do not know how to handle .DLL files.Can the Part Designer be useful to design a pattern period only, and apply it on the all front face object ? Thank you for your help.   

Hi all,We are looking for a black box for this lens:https://www.attocube.com/en/products/microscopes/features/cryogenic-compatible-achromatic-high-na-objectives/lt-apoI tried contacting the company, but they were unable to provide any information. They seemed quite hesitant.Or, anyone already used this kind of lens?Thanks a lot.Best regards,Taynara

Hi all,I am curious how to simulate different aberrations in optical system, like if I add one wave of defocus, how does the image simulation look like? And how the PSF look like? Furthurmore, if I combine one wave of defocus and a negative one wave of spherical aberration, how does the system look like?Does anyone have some insights about it?Best.Kaden

Dear All,I am conducting a tolerance for an optical system and setting the criterion to be RMS Spot Radius.The nominal criterion value is 1.7815 while the actual spot radius value is a lot smaller than this value as shown in the snippet below. I did some search and found this discussion here but I really did not understand what I should do with my current merit function editor. The Merit Function value is 0.00420 as shown in the snippet below.  Any idea on what I am missing here? Thank you Kind Regards,Naif  

Hey gang, I saw this today: https://medium.com/codex/microsoft-integrates-python-natively-into-excel-ae2d1c794babAlthough I’ve not used it myself, I like how their simple integration of a new function =PY() gives Excel access to Python and all Python goodies.Given the number of Pythonistas using OpticStudio via ZOS-API, and the great open-sourced Python links for OpticStudio (sorry I forget the name right now) it might be a relatively easy addition to make Python support built in. And a PYTH(filename$) function in ZPL would be soooo cool. Note this is already supported via the ZPL COMMAND keywordCOMMAND executable argumentsBut this would be a relatively easy way to give more polished support for Python. In particular, COMMAND launches the executable in its own thread, and does not wait for completion. I think adding waiting for completion as an option 

I want to check the RMS Spot Y with Wavelength of a lens system for an MC_WORST.zos from a tolerance run. However, when I try to run this in the MC file I get no information out, like shown in post: The same is true for RMS vs Focus. But RMS vs Field works fine. I have tried saving the file in different folders (with and without a session file) as well as both ZOS and ZMX file extensions. Nothing appears to fix the problem.Is there a solution for this? Or is this a bug of MC files?

Hi All, I am designing a HUD system. My question is: when I use the Grid Distortion tool to view maximum distortion, should I check the Symmetric Magnification option? And how can I achieve maximum distortion with the Symmetric Magnification option using operands? Best regards, Steven 

I want to perform a sensitivity analysis on an optical system via ZOS API (Matlab in particular). The analysis concern the perturbation to lenses’ parameters due to manufacturing including glass data.How can I change the refractive index?If I try to use TheLDE.GetSurfaceAt(My_Surface).MaterialI can’t modify the index and abbe values.Thanks for help

Hello,I’m not sure that this is the right place for this question, but I hope my description is clear.I’m trying to analyze the performance of a plano-convex aspheric lens coupling light into a SMF.  From the POP analysis in Zemax, the fiber coupling efficiency is farily high, ~80%.  We expect ~82% for coupling a top-hat beam into a single Gaussian mode, so this number is close to optimal for our case.In the lab, we are currently getting ~40% coupling efficiency.  Upon doing some data analysis on our fiber, we measure a lower divergence than what the fiber was spec’d to.  Turns out, when splicing an endcap onto the tip of a fiber, the core expands to a higher MFD, resulting in a lower divergence.I’m then assuming that the beam entering the fiber has to be mode-matched to the endcap, not the tip of the fiber.  So in Zemax, I have the last two surfaces set as the front surface of the endcap, propagated a known distance in a known material to the image surface, the fiber tip.  In the POP

Hi,I know a lot of people are like me and obsess about the ‘fastest machine for ray tracing’ and such like, so here’s my latest insights 😁My OpticStudio machine cost ~$2k and is a Dell XPS 8960 from Costco that uses the 13th Gen i7. It shows as having 24 cores, although I don’t know if these are real cores or include ‘hyperthreaded’ cores. My standard test if the OpticStudio Performance Test, using the double Gauss 28 degree field sample file. Nothing special about this design file, but it’s the one I have used since the days of 386 processors and I’m familiar with how the performance ‘feels’ given a specific set of results from the test. I getI tend to use the middle number, ray-surfaces per second, as the main proxy for performance, so this is almost 900 million RSS. The System Updates number is single-threaded, so it’s a good proxy for how fast a single core is, versus the multi-threaded RSS calculation. I’m very pleased with this. My older laptop, a Lenovo that cost ~$1.5k from Co

i need to ignore a range of fields in a multi-configuration system. is there something similar to IGNM operand which ignores a range  of surfaces.  thank youaalim

It would be nice if Zemax OpticStudio had a dark mode such that the editors and graphics where displayed against a black or darker background.Some solutions for this are to use the Windows screen inversion tool,Windows Screen Inversion ToolMy preferred tool is the screen inverter from,NegativeScreenThe latter allows custom mappings of screen inversion for maintaining the colors but inverting the black white values.