Hi Zemax engineers:I got error info. when I used Physical Optics function in mixed mode.Zemax Error Message  is displayed as follows:the physical optics propagation requires rays be used to trace through non-sequential component surfaces, see the program documentation. How can I avoid this kind of error？ Thanks.

Has anyone experienced this? The 3D layout gets stuck and unusable. Forcing user to open up new 3D layout window.

While populating the Tolerance Data Editor (TDE), the editor automatically generates and also allows the user to specify/modify the Adjuster with a specified column. But in tolerance scripting using PERTURB command, there seems to be no way to specify the Adjuster surface number while specifying the tolerance on a surface thickness . Is this a limitation of PERTURB command for scripting the thickness parameter or that Zemax automatically assigns an adjuster surface leaving no chance for the user to select another surface thickness? Any help greatly appreciated. Thanks!

I am getting this error when I open a file, but I don’t understand why. The multi-configuration editor has a pickup solve on Configuration 3, Operand 7, so why is it saying ZPL solve?The error appears multiple times, each time for a different MCE operand that should have a pickup solve. I just went through and re-created all the pickup solves, saved the file, then opened again only to see the same error messages and all my pickups removed. What is happening?!

Hi Zemax Community, I am reading the book, introduction to lens design with practical zemax examples.And in the chapter 11.6, it writes“ We now combine spherical aberration and defocus mathematically, so that we can find the position of the minimum blur(MB) spot W = W040*ρ^4 + Wd*ρ^2  this occurs whenWd = -3/2* W040 “ I just wonderedWhy Wd = -3/2*W040 makes the MB minimum ,how to get the -3/2?  is zemax using this calculation in M solve?Thanks in advance Best regardsYang 

Hello,My team has been working on simulating a system with a prism component. We have successfully simulated the system as a linear sequential system and have generated realistic MTF data. However, when replacing the prism with its 3d counterpart, we are not able to simulate the MTF (either doesn’t have enough points or does not resemble sequential system), which should be theoretically identical to the sequential system. We have confirmed that a sufficient amount of  rays are being correctly traced through the system. We were already forced to offset the prism by a very small margin to avoid ray tracing errors on the prisms edge; however, this has not remedied any of the MTF concerns. Has anybody encountered similar issues or have recommendations on how to approach theses concerns with mixed-sequential systems?

Hello,I have tried to use sample code from Python Samples [e17s06_py] for changing settings of Detector Rectangle object loaded in predefined system. But when I saved the new system with a new name, settings were still the same as in the predefined system. How to load predefined system (in file A.zos), change some objects parameters and save the result as a new system (B.zos)? def load_system(zos, lensdir=lensdir, lensfile=lensfile):    # load local variables    ZOSAPI = zos.ZOSAPI    TheApplication = zos.TheApplication    TheSystem = zos.TheSystem        # Open file    lensname = os.path.join(os.sep, lensdir, lensfile)    TheSystem.LoadFile(lensname, False)        return ZOSAPI, TheApplication, TheSystem zos = PythonStandaloneApplication()ZOSAPI, TheApplication, TheSystem = load_system(zos, lensfile='A.zos')TheNCE = TheSystem.NCE d = TheNCE.GetObjectAt(18) #Detector Rectangleo = d.GetObjectTypeSettings(ZOSAPI.Editors.NCE.ObjectType.DetectorRectangle)d.ChangeType( o)d.ObjectData.XHalfW

Hello! I try to find a simple way to simulate a filter array. The desire is, that it should be 64 small filters with their own transmission data. It is no problem to simulate 1 or several filters usind Coating.dat - it is already nicely described on Forum. But to simulate manually 64 small filters is not great.. Of course, one option, as always, is DLL. But is there some simple way? (I tried, for example, MEMS - but I can not define transmission (coating) for every cell).ThanksAliaksei

Hello,I am relatively new in Zemax have an issue with defining  or creating new 3D objects in Zemax. I have read the relevant articles in Zemax Knowledge base, however, can’t find a plausible explanation to my question. What I actually need is to define a UDO (User defined object) by supplying a set of x  y and z coordinates (or a parametric equation with boundaries) in order to perform a stray light analysis in non-sequential mode. The reason why I want to define it inside of Zemax instead of importing a CAD file is that I want to use Merit function to optimize the dimensions of this predefined object. The object supposed to be a light guide and should reflect off the maximum possible rays of its surface with a total internal reflection so that I can detect them by using a detector polar.  In the case of imported CAD objects, the Merit function cannot optimize its dimensions as far as I can experience.

Hello there, I am still a new learner to Zemax.I have an optical system of 7 lenses focusing collected light from a telescope onto an image plane. The goal is to make the RMS radius as small as possible. Whenever I set my parameters to variable and optimize, Zemax will change the thickness variable after my lenses to negative, rearranging the order to an impossible configuration. I am wondering if there is a way to fix the distances to be positive and keep the sequential order? Thanks for any guidance. 

Hi I am trying an off-axial mirror in sequential mode.(pic1)I refers to the KB here(a little )https://support.zemax.com/hc/en-us/articles/1500005486541-How-to-model-an-off-axis-parabolic-mirror but met this problem , the mirror tilted, when I added hard aperture to it.(pic2→pic3)I attached the data ,and could you give me some hint? thank you YANG 

When reviewing the results of tolerancing, it would be SO much more convenient if the tolerance editor line numbers were part of the listings.  I have 200+ tolerance operands and I’m wasting a lot of time scrolling down the Worst Offenders and trying to find them in the editor so I can modify them. Please add?

Hello there, I am still a new learner to Zemax.I have an optical system of 7 lenses focusing collected light from a telescope onto an image plane. My goal is to image 1 arcsecond portion of the sky and add a 1 arcsecond slit. Given the F#, diameter, and EFFL of the telescope, I calculated a slit width of 0.0097 mm. I am running into a problem inserting a slit of this width inside the system. The field lines that pass through it have to be so small,  (0.0001, 0) (-0.0001, 0) (0,0). Is this normal to block out that much light?  Here is a screenshot of my series of lenses. Aperture slit location is sized up and highlighted in orange.    Here is a zoom in of the slit, only allowing (0.0001, 0) (-0.0001, 0) (0,0) field lines through.

I have a system with a maximum half-field of 30 degrees, resulting in a field of view (FOV) of 60 degrees. I am familiar with the process of assigning field height (in image simulation analysis) when fields are given in object height using the reference image. However, if my fields are in degrees, what should be the field height to assign in the image simulation analysis?Any help is much appreciated.Thank you and regards,Navaneeth Tejasvi

Hello everyone,I have the following problem (Zemax 22.3):I generated a binary source file (20000 rays - number does not really matter) with a specfic order of rays (sdf file with wavelength and flux) I build a dummy non-sequential system consisting of the source file (randomization turned off) and a dummy surface (complexity and structure of the system does not matter as well) After tracing the rays and looking into the ray database viewer the order of the rays is actually not as defined in the ray file, as I expected (I checked if the order in the ray file is correct with: Python Reading Writing Binary Files (ZRD, ZBF, DAT, SDF) | Zemax Community) While there are correctly ordered sub-batches of rays in the zrd file, the position and size (number of rays) of the batches depends on the settings in the System Explorer → Non-Sequential. Changing e.g. Maximum Intersections per Ray, etc leads to a different order/size of the batches in the ray database viewer. My expectation was that these

Can I install and use multiple versions of OpticStudio on the same machine?

Hi everyone, I was trying to solve the following problem, and stumbled across an odd behaviour of a ZPL Solve.Imagine a collimated beam incident upon a Fold Mirror. The Reflect Angle is arbitrary. I want the next surface to retain its orientation irrespective of the Fold Mirror orientation. For example, if the Reflect Angle is -80 deg, and I want the next surface to have an overall tilt about X of -90 deg, I would add a Coordinate Break after the Fold Mirror and put a value of -10 deg in the Tilt About X column. This works. Now to deal with arbitrary angles, my idea was to have a ZPL Solve that would take the Tilt About X of the second Coordinate Break of the Fold Mirror, double it, add 90 deg, and change its sign. This works in the sense that the value returned for the -80 deg Fold Mirror is indeed -10 deg, but the 3D Layout looks very different and I can’t wrap my head around it.This is the ZPL Solve:fold_return = SOSO(0) - 1fold_tilt = -2 * parm(3, fold_return) - 90SOLVERETURN fold_

Hello everyone,I'm looking to model a thermal expansion of my spectrometer. To do this, I'm using Zemax's Make Thermal tool, entering my displacements in the Lens Data and changing the CTE expansion coefficient in the columns.It works pretty well. I have two tilted mirrors and I'd also like to model the tilt defect resulting from dilatation. The problem is that this value is entered in a coordinate break and therefore doesn't vary in the Multi-Conf Editor. Does anyone have any ideas on how to solve my problem? Thanks in advance for your help

Hello guys.    I’ve been working on a high NA objective for the semicon metrology. A catadioptric lens is recommended. See the layout below,   catadioptric layoutthe EFFL calculated by ZEMAX is -4 mm. From what i can see, it’s an imaging system, the focal length should not be a minus value. Can anyone explain this?and when I use the operand REAY to calculate the real ray coordinate at the image-1 surface, it went wrong. Is REAY not applicable in this kind of  catadioptric lens?    

I have the latest version of OpticStudio and am trying to run an example https://optics.ansys.com/hc/en-us/articles/18254409091987When I open the.zprj file from step 6 of the manual, I get the following error (Image attached). What is wrong with it? How I can fix it?

I have an asphere lens setup in NSC, and want to see the effect of adding an astigmatism to the lens. The only way I see is to use the biconic Zernike surface with all Zernike coefficients set to 0. When enter the lens prescription into the aspheric surface or Zernike surface, I get the correct results. As soon as I switch to the biconic Zernike the results look incorrect. Any ideas on why they do not match? Spot at 100mm 

https://www.reddit.com/r/Optics/s/5C8PmhVzVz

When opening files with CAD objects (STEP, SAT), 3D shaded display windows report ‘Error 72: Unknown error’ when the ‘Use Parasolid Libraries’ option is checked, and ‘GetRTObjectTesselation, returned error code -1’, when it is unchecked.  Tested on multiple files that all worked with 2023R1.

The Paraxial Gaussian Beam tool allows me to specify an M^2 (beam quality factor) value for the beam. The POPD operand allows me to measure the M^2 of any field that the Physical Optics Propagation tool (POP) can generate, but there’s no way to generate a specific M^2 value for a POP beam. Why is this, and what can I do about it?

Below is an example image from POP. Aspect ratio 3x4. No matter what I do, I can’t seem to get the last line item “Beam Width” to be fully displayed with aspect ratio 3x4 and 3x5. But it displays for other aspect ratios. The last line at the end seems to be cut off (both on-screen and saved image) regardless of how many times I resize the window.Same problem w/ other analysis windows as shown in 2nd figure: Spot DiagramTherefore, this might possibly be a bug? Best - ASuku