I would like to make a rectangle 2d array-like DMD.A lot of DMD mirrors are tilted individually with a certain angle at "on state".So I made a rectangle object as 'parent', and an array object to make it the 2D array. Then array object is linked to the rectangle object. The rectangle object is tilted 45 degrees on the z-axis and 12 degrees on the y-axis.But in this situation, copied rectangles are not tilted, but keep the initial state(only the parent object is changed.).I want to change their all angles like their parents.  What should I set? Thanks.Best regards.

When ACIS is enabled, prisms turn out weird in the exported STEP files. The first surface is fine, but then the prism extends a long way in the wrong direction. 

I was doing a project using non-sequential and we are using a specific lens manufactured by a specific company. But when we contacted them for the Zemax file, They provided a Black body sequential file. Is it possible to make a lens which acts a the same in order to be used in non-sequential (just for analysis purpose).

Hello,I am working in sequential mode with a non-sequential component. In the Single Ray Trace Analysis I can see the coordinates of the Ray at the two NSC Objects (yellow marked in the picture below). Is there a possibility to access this data via REAX/REAY/REAZ in the merit function editor? Since it doesn’t have a surface number assigned I don’t know how to address it.  

Hello everyone, I want to simulate the surface of a lens in Zemax OpticStudio. The data I have are in a notepad with two columns of numbers. The first column represents the positions of one meridian of the lens from -3.5 mm to +3.5 mm and the second column represents the average power of the lens in each of the positions. Then, the data should be extrapolated radially to create the rotationally symmetric surface. I attach an example .txt. Which would be the best option/type of surface to create the surface and how can I do it? This is the first time I have to do something like this and I need help, pleaseThank you very much, kind regardsAlicia

Hello together, I can not import a object I designed in the Part Designer. When I want to add it to the non-sequential component editor the option 'Type: CAD Part: Zemax Part Designer' is not visible. Does anyone have a solution for this?  Thank you very much. Sincerly, Christian Bründl  

Hello everyone,I have a problem when adding new lenses inside my system. I have already worked on a dynamic zoom  before (the third first elements including two adaptative surface and a doublet). Now I added a mirror, and I want to add the first lens of a tube lens of a microscope, before adding the objective. (capture 1)However, I got a big error as you can see on the second capture. I have already tried to moove the stop closer to the mirror with dummy surfaces. However, it doesn’t change anything. The first error I got si in a pop up window (missed surface 21), and then: “cannot compute when chief ray cannot be traced”. (capture 2)The thing is, I already tried to do the same process without adding these lenses, but by adding paraxial lens instead. I was then able to add the whole objective after, as you can see. (capture 3)But I wasn’t able to convert this system in non sequential mode because of the presence of paraxial lens I guess. That is why I am now trying to add “real lenses”

Thermal pickup does not update surface curvature and element thickness variations with temperature for some reason. Sharing a snippet of the difficulty:What are some possible explanations?

Hi! Is there a way in OS to subsitute lenses from the catalogue in optimization process?Thanks.

Hello,I am a new user of Zemax and as a Biomedical Engineer also anything but an expert with optics. I have to design a simple spectrometer setup for a project. The basics are:light source: end of polymer optical fiber, 1mm diameter, NA=0.5 diffraction grating: 500 l/mm Sensor: 1/3” CMOS from USB Webcam, no optics attached (meaning 4,8mm sensor width) Lenses preferably from ThorlabsNow, I have been trying to work along with the “How to build a spectrometer”-Tutorial from the Zemax Website, but I am running into problems. I tried rebuilding the setup with my own specifications. More precisely, I:Set Object Space NA to around 0.1 (will use mechanical aperture in final setup - BTW can I simulate that as well?) Used f =10.2mm achromatic triplet (from Thorlabs) as a collimator, so that the spectrum fits onto my sensor (instead of achromatic doublet with greater focal length in example) Used 2x 50mm best form spherical lenses to focus the beam (similar to example) Used f=-50mm plano-concave

Hello everyone, is it possible to set the parameters of the merit function in order to respect two configurations simultaneously?For example i want to obtain a lens position in order to respect two different configurations.Thanks Marco   

I would like to loop over array variables and compute analysis results and store in a CSV file.Example: I would like to loop over 4 field points and compute MTF and store the results in a CSV file. Where, Column 1 = Frequency, Column 2 = Field 1 results, Column 3 = Field 2 results and so on. How can I append results for the different fields points as defined in the ARRAY?ARRAY= [1, 2, 3, 4]FOREACH VARIABLE IN ARRAY    FOR i = 0, 180, 10            ! Define variables            freq = i            wave = 1            field = VARIABLE            sampling = 1            vector = 1            type = 1                GETMTF freq, wave, field, sampling, vector, type            FORMAT 10.7            OUTPUT log_filename$, append           ! PRINT i, “,”, “vec1(0), “,”, vec1(1) # append results for the different fields as defined in the array           OUTPUT screen           NEXTThanks

Hello,  I have a sequential model that consists of a collimated beam upon a diffraction grating, which then hits two cylindrical lenses and the 3 different orders from the diffraction grating create lines on the image plane. I am trying to create a macro where I can either export the data or create a graph in Zemax that tells me the X and Y spot sizes (instead of the RMS as it is a line) of the field with varying period of the grating. I am able to calculate the X and Y spot sizes for each order, but I am unsure how to do two things:Extract the property ‘period’ of the grating from Lens Data (lines/um) in a ZPL macro. I have tried using SPRO, but cannot find the correct column to correlate to the period being extracted. I am able to extract the radius and the semi-diameter, but not the lines/um. Create a graph of the x and y spot sizes against period in Zemax. Can I do this using Universal Plot? If so, how? Or is better to extract the data and read into matlab?   Many thanks, Eleanor

How does one convert the numeric value obtained from user INPUT to STRING data type?Thanks

Hi!I am getting a very strange error while trying to insert detector rectangles while using Zemax in Non Sequential Mode. I am working with CAD objects, but as soon as I try to insert simple detectors, the raw gets highlighted with a strange red box:This can happen also with the other objects from time to time:Zemax stops working and I have to force quitting the software. When I reopen Zemax I get these two errors:Does anybody know why this happens?I thought it was because of the big cad files, so I tried to insert only simple detectors: Unfurtunately I get the same behavior and I have to quit Zemax.I thank you in advance for your help!CheersmGiulia.

Hi,Working with NSC, I want to create a 2D source array where the surface normal of each source intersects at the same location (or be able to be changed manually).There is the option to create an array in the properties of the NSC editor, however there is no option to rotate the source individually in the array.I have attached pictures of what I am hoping to achieve. Is there a way to generate this 2D array?Thank you for reading! 

Hi,I did laser beam measurement and knew waist X and waist Y, and their corresponding locations W.R.T laser port, just want to discuss with you what is the best way to set it up in POP.  what I did is to use Astigmatism Gaussian.Since the 1st surface is x-waist, the waist position X is 0.and waist position Y is 148 since Y waist is at 148 to the right of 1st surface - X waist.Does this sound reasonable to you? I am a new user with POP, any suggestions and advice are appreciated!Thanks!   Regards,Ying 

Hey folks,I got a glass sheet with front surface coated with AR coating and backside coated with colored ink, I know the reflectance spectra of the ink as well as AR coating design, the difficulty is that the ink will scatter light, how could I use Zemax to calculate the color measured from front surface of glass?  Appreciate your help. Cheers,

hallo,i had been working with regular LED´s as my source of illumination and was planning to change the source to be collimated, i tried looking into the merit functions but nothing came up. Can someone help me with this. 

I want to build two identical parallel optical systems with multiple structures in sequence mode and then make the two light paths intersect at the end through the reflection plane, but it is found that the light rays do not follow the reflection law on the last plane mirror, why is this 

Good morning,I imported an LED source with the .DAT file, is it possible to analyse the angular distibution?Below is the angular distribution taken from the datasheet 

I am testing TEZI operand to confirm if it really produces specified RMS surface error.I created a simple toy lenses1. flat mirror + paraxial surface to converge rays2. flat mirror + afocal settingI added surface errors to be 1um rms using TEZI operand and ran the tolerance command.I set the wavelength to be 0.5 um.To my understanding surface error is 2λrms. The mirror doubles the error and result wavefront RMS should be 4λrms.The configuration 2(the afocal setting) seems to return the correct result, whereas configuration 1(paraxial surface) returns a little different values than I expected.I wonder why this happens. I attached the two zos files.Thank you for your cooperation.  Screenshot of configuration 1 (paraxial surface)Screenshot of configuration 2 (afocal setting) 

From the help files:XY-Symmetric: Similar to Y-Symmetric, except there are 9 field points used. The 5 Y-Symmetric points are used, and -1.0, -0.7, +0.7, and +1.0 are added in the X axis direction only.It is also highly recommended when tolerancing non rotationally symmetric lenses...that user defined fields be used. Are both negative and positive field points really needed along both x and y axes if your asymmetry is only about one axis?  If you designed the system with only positive x field points, for instance, you still need to tolerance it with both negative and positive x field points? In addition to asymmetry, what if you have distortion?  Aren’t edge and corner points needed as well then?   The XY Symmetric option assigns a weight of 4 to the on-axis field.  Can anyone explain the basis of this weighting?  How does that weighting need to be adjusted if more than 9 fields are used or if some don’t lie on either axis (user-defined fields)? Thanks!

Hi,I downloaded a simple lens (LA7270-E4, Thorlabs) zemax files, and I don’t understand the focal plane and principle plane locations in image space as shown in the prescription, I think they are opposite.Image attached. Please let me know your thoughts. Thanks,Ying  

Hi!I am trying to use "Insert Lens" function (from File tab) in a ZPL macro. Has anyone seen a keyword for it in ZPL?Thanks!Maria