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Question

Quick adjust does nothing


mocquin
Ultraviolet

I have a zemax file that seems to do no change in the lens data when I try to use the Quick Adjust tool.

I set the tool to the right surface number and use thickness to optimize the Spot Size Radial at the image plane, but it does not modify the surface’s thickness, even though it is not at an optimal value (I handedly modified it to be a bit off)

I’m guessing something is limiting the computation, but I get no error or no message, the system just stays the same

 

Note that using the Quick Focus does change the second-to-last surface thickness. Also note that the surface I’m trying to tune the thickness through the Quick Adjust tool is the “back” of a black box model.

3 replies

mocquin
Ultraviolet
  • Author
  • Ultraviolet
  • 38 replies
  • July 21, 2025

To go a bit further, here what I’ve found.

The initial setup is :

  • ​​S0 : Object
  • S1 5mm thick air
  • S2 : Stop thickness 0
  • S3 Black box of thickness 22.6mm
  • S4 : 8.76mm thick air
  • S5 Image

In this initial setup, the system is already optimized focus-wise, where the S4 thickness does not change when running either Quick focus or Quick Adjust (surface 4, spot size).

First, I manually change the S4 thickness to 8.0mm, and run : 

  • Quick focus : S4 thickness goes back to its initial optimized value of 22.6mm (this way we checked that Quick Focus works)
  • Quick Adjust  : again, S4 thickness goes back to its initial optimized value of 22.6mm (so the Quick Adjust tool also works as expected)

Now, I insert a new surface so the setup looks like this : 

  • ​​S0 : Object
  • S1 5mm thick air
  • S2 : Stop thickness 0
  • S3 Black box of thickness 22.6mm
  • S4 : 8.76mm thick air
  • S5 : air 0mm thickness
  • S6 Image

In other words, I just inserted a new dummy surface before the image surface. Then setting S4  thickness to 8.5mm and : 

  • Running Quick focus : updated S5 thickness 0.26 so that S4+S5=8.76mm. So Quick focus tool still works as expected
  • Running Quick Adjust, still on surface S4 (with S5 thickness 0mm) : nothing changes
  • Running Quick Adjust, on surface S5 (with S5 thickness 0mm) : nothing changes

Is there a reason the quick focus tool works but not the quick adjust ?

I’ve encountered similar behavior on various zmx files but could not explain why...


Sebastien G.

Hello,

In my case, using QuickAdjust on the second-to-last surface thickness works fine. I may have encountered some cases it wouldn’t work as expected but can’t remember the reasons.

 

Could you share the zmx file, or similar setup that does reproduce this behavior ?


mocquin
Ultraviolet
  • Author
  • Ultraviolet
  • 38 replies
  • July 22, 2025

@Sebastien G. thanks for your reply

The file is based on a black model which I cannot discloe, but I’ll try to create a sample file that exhibits the issue


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