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Tolerancing an off axis mirror with Zemax 13

  • 23 January 2024
  • 3 replies
  • 76 views
Ign.Cho

Hi everyone,

I am working on mirror system, consisted of two OAP mirror at the front (sketch below). I’m looking for a way to make a tolerancing analysis - especially irregularity of surface. Do anyone knows and can explain how the irregularity would be calculated if my elements are part of “parent” mirrors? How can I correctly analyse the manufacturing?

 

The only thing I was found it’s: 

But the problem is that my program version (Zemax 13) does not support Composite surfaces. 

Thanks in advance for any help

IC

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Best answer by MichaelH 24 January 2024, 03:47

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MichaelH
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Check out Erin’s old KBA about how to do this before the composite surface:

Tolerancing surface irregularity using a phase surface – Knowledgebase (zemax.com)

If you’re stuck with Z13, then you’ll need to use a combination of Python  and the DDE to implement this; https://github.com/xzos/PyZDDE might be helpful for connecting Python to Zemax but keep in mind that DDE isn’t supported anymore (i.e., no support or probably even forum help) and this code won’t work with the current version if you upgrade.

~Michael
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Hello @MichaelH ,

Just for my curiosity, How feasible is it to manufacture the above off-axis mirrors, which seem to have a high off-axis distance? Particularly convex off axis mirror. 

Thankyou.

MichaelH
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It depends on the manufacturing technique, the size of the parts, the final surface quality and how much you’re willing to pay, but with advancements in both manufacturing & metrology, there are very few optical parts which cannot be manufactured.  

I could imagine something like this could be either diamond turned or sub-aperture polished on a 5 axis CNC machine and then ion beam figured for final surface quality.  The concavity shouldn’t matter too much, but the greater the aspheric departure the more difficult the metrology will be.

~Michael

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