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Issues when building an off-axis mirror in NS mode

  • 23 March 2023
  • 2 replies
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Hi all,

I'm trying to reproduce an ellipsoidal off-axis mirror surface in Non-Sequential mode (which is part of a bigger optical system, hence the locations and orientations of sources and surfaces). I have reconstructed the parent ellipsoid as a biconic surface with its vertex in the following positions:

?name=mceclip1.png

Now I want to reproduce the curvature of this parent surface at position of incidence of the source (similar to what an aperture would do in sequential mode). My understanding is that the Off-axis mirror should be the element to be used here. The incidence point is:

?name=mceclip2.png

So there is an offset in positions X,Y and Z of the vertex of the parent biconic and the off-axis mirror. I constanly obtain Error 31 when trying to input the proper offset of the ellipsoid (which in the case of the system is around 1063mm). Beyond a certain offset (~600mm) Error 31 appears.

Any ideas on why does this error appear? I could probably use some boolean element to reconstruct the mirror, however my understanding is that the off-axis mirror should be the best NS element here.

 

Many thanks!

Eduard

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Best answer by Sandrine Auriol 27 March 2023, 13:50

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Hi @Eduard Carbonell !

Thank you for contacting our support. I believe that Error 31 means that the software is unable to build the object. I looked at your file and I feel like the offset value should be smaller (around 600 from my rough estimation):
 

Then I think that you could set smaller values for the X and Y half widths of the off-axis mirror just though that the software can build the object. Then once it looks correct you can increase the values.

I had a chat with another Zemaxer here:

Let me know your thoughts. Thank you!

Dear Sandrine,

It was indeed a missunderstanding from my side on the offset representation. As you said the offset in my case are around 573mm, which is the projection of the vector between the parent and incidence vertices to the Y axis. I attach a scheme in case someone might have the same confusion I had.

Where alpha is the angle between v and the axis of revolution of the parent ellipsoid.

 

Many thanks!

Eduard

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