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Use this space to show off your skills, introduce yourself, or to chat about the latest in the world of optics.

  • 207 Topics
  • 871 Replies
207 Topics
designerguy13-photonics
designerguy13-photonicsVisible
posted in People & Pointers
Zemax and Edmund Optics Certification

What a course by Zemax, LLC and Edmund Optics that will teach you how to:* Define the basic properties of light and how it interacts with other objects* Interpret simple ray diagrams*Define optical system requirements and describe how they affect system performance*Identify factors limiting optical performance*State the optical aberrations and their effects on real systems*List sources of error in manufacturing and assembly and describe how they can affect system performanceCertificationLinkedin post!

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designerguy13-photonics
2 years ago
Steven.Lacava
Steven.LacavaSingle Emitter
posted in People & Pointers
Tech Tip Tuesday: STAR with Mobile Phones and Mobile LiDAR

When designing cell phones and mobile LiDAR applications, or really any system with motion, vibration and shock can be a concern. One technique used by both cell phone and aero-space applications is to use step mounts on the optical elements to keep their motion more ridged. The issue with designing this type of step and testing the effects of FEA are how to integrate the optic with the step.Today’s Tuesday Tech Tip is how to create a step mount and run a STOP analysis on the system. Creating these steps in a CAD platform and making the distance between the lens and the step a nominal size is the first step. Using a CAD tool that allows optical properties and ray tracing such as OpticsBuilder or Speos will help with this process. Next the FEA software needs to allow this nominal distance to be perceived as ideal for transferring forces and thermal effects. This will allow both thermal and structural data to run on the new combined optic of the lens and step as though it were a monolith

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Steven.Lacava
2 years ago
yuan.chen
Zemax Staff
yuan.chenZemax Staff
posted in People & Pointers
Tips to switch between different operand combinations

For example, I want to set up two different set of criteria(for example spot and wavefront) to optimize. how can I switch between these two?Method 1: Create two set of merit function combinations, then load the merit functionMethod 2: Use GOTO or ENDX to swtich (change the value of GOTO) You can find more interesting operands here, please enjoy:The Optimize Tab (sequential ui mode) > Automatic Optimization Group > Merit Function Editor (automatic optimization group) > Optimization Operands by Category > Merit Function Control Operands Another example is BLNK, you can comment and this helps to locate the operands group easily. 

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yuan.chen
Zemax Staff
2 years ago
yuan.chen
Zemax Staff
yuan.chenZemax Staff
posted in People & Pointers
Any difference between FCGS,FCGT and the field curvature& distortion analysis plot

Generally speaking the FCGS and FCGT values are more robust compared with the analysis window.It's mentioned in The Analyze Tab (sequential ui mode) > Image Quality Group > Aberrations (Image Quality Group) > Field Curvature and Distortion :Strictly speaking, the field curvature and distortion plots are only valid for rotationally symmetric systems with plane object and image surfaces. However, OpticStudio uses a generalization of the field curvature and distortion concepts to give reasonable results for some, but not all, non-rotationally symmetric systems. Caution should be used when interpreting these data for non-rotationally symmetric systems or systems with object and/or image surfaces that are not planes.FCGS and FCGT have more reasonable results for non-rotationally symmetric systems.If the system is rotationally symmetric, the Field curvature values reported by the FCGT and FCGS operands should match those values listed in the Field Curv/Distortion plot, for the same

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yuan.chen
Zemax Staff
2 years ago
Steven.Lacava
Steven.LacavaSingle Emitter
posted in People & Pointers
Tech Tip Tuesday: Machine Vision 2-D & 3-D Imaging Using FEA & STAR

As humans become more reliant on technology, machine vision becomes an increasingly critical component. Many systems today rely on machine vision systems, including package tracking, security scanners, autonomous vehicles, and even some smart phone applications. As with many optical systems, these machine vision cameras can be subject to environmental conditions. To illustrate this, we look at a single example of an automotive HUD system that has an Inferred camera to enhance the machine or drivers’ perception of animals and pedestrians. The image glow demonstrates how the image captured by the camera can be affected by extreme thermal loads which could be placed on the system during a drive on a hot summer day. This could pose a problem, as the system may not correctly identify a hazard, potentially resulting in human injury.  To tackle this challenge, optical designers and engineers undertake a process known structural thermal optical performance (STOP) analysis. Consider how a tempe

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Steven.Lacava
2 years ago
S
Luminary
Sandrine AuriolLuminary
posted in People & Pointers
Example of a Thermal Index Data file (*.TID)

I have attached an example of a TID file. This file contains the index of refraction at multiple temperatures and wavelengths. The first line contains the word PRESSURE followed by the ambient air pressure in atmospheres.Then the data consists of 3 columns: temperature, wavelength, and index.The temperature of the first data point defines the reference temperature for the glass.It can then be fitted with the Glass Fitting tool.Once you run the tool, you will get a report and this can be automatically added to a catalog.

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S
Luminary
1 year ago
Mike.Jones
Fully Spectral
Mike.JonesFully Spectral
posted in People & Pointers
Shop specifications for Mangin mirror?

Could anyone share a successful specification sheet example for a Mangin mirror to go out for quote?  I have the toleranced radii and center thickness, edged diameter and clear apertures all defined, calling out wedge across clear aperture to be less than 25µm, polish quality, AR coating on the refractive surface, etc. all complete.  What I don’t know is how best to specify the reflective surface.  I know the desired reflectivity, which will likely either require aluminum or silver, but I’m not familiar with how to specify the protective coat(s) that is/are applied on top of the reflective coating.  Is flat black epoxy paint OK, or can it oxidize the coating and cause delamination?  Does an intermediary non-oxidizing, adherent coating need to be applied over the reflective metal before painting flat black?  Thanks for any advice.  Mike

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Mike.Jones
Fully Spectral
2 years ago
yuan.chen
Zemax Staff
yuan.chenZemax Staff
posted in People & Pointers
About the rotation radius of Toroidal surface

 The definition of Toroidal surface is mentioned here:The Setup Tab > Editors Group (Setup Tab) > Lens Data Editor > Sequential Surfaces (lens data editor) > ToroidalToroidal surfaces are formed by defining a curve in the Y-Z plane, and then rotating this curve about an axis parallel to the Y axis and intersecting the Z axis. Toroids are defined using a base radius of curvature in the Y-Z plane, as well as a conic constant and polynomial aspheric coefficients.  Another way to verify, we can use the surface sag, the rotation R’s value is 0：This is a trick to test some unfamiliar surface, we can use Surface sag and surface sag cross to test. 

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yuan.chen
Zemax Staff
2 years ago
Flurin Herren
Fully Spectral
Flurin HerrenFully Spectral
posted in People & Pointers
Optimize your mixed mode system

Hello!I recently came across an interesting question regarding optimization in mixed mode which I would like to share here. Feel free to put any potential follow-up questions into the comments.How to model a mixed sequential/non-sequential system – Knowledgebase (zemax.com)Let's take a simple mixed mode system with a tilted Standard Lens Object which focus the rays onto an image plane. As you can see on the image below, we have two variable parameters in the whole system:Tilt About Y, Non-sequential Parameter Thickness Surface 3, Sequential ParameterIf we now optimize with the Merit Function default settings (Wizard Default settings) to minimize the Spot Size, we can observe that both the sequential and the non-sequential variables are optimized: Have a good day!

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Flurin Herren
Fully Spectral
2 years ago
Flurin Herren
Fully Spectral
Flurin HerrenFully Spectral
posted in People & Pointers
Export CAD files - Origin of Coordinate System

Hello there,Let's say we have a very simple singlet system with two collimated fields which are focused onto an image plane. We now like to export this optical system, as a STEP format, from OpticStudio into our CAD environment. We can do so with the Export CAD File tool which can be found in the File tab of OpticStudio. Once the optical system is opened up in CAD (Here Ansys SpaceClaim) it looks like that:As visible on the image of the exported Singlet above, the origin of the global coordinate system within the CAD environment is set at the beginning of the rays. This is because the first Surface was set as the Global Coordinate Reference in the Surface Properties of OpticStudio. To change the coordinate system origin point of the exported cad file, another surface can be set to be the Global Coordinate Reference surface.Taking this Singlet as show case example, it can be observed that the origin of the global coordinate system has shifted from the beginning of the rays to the front

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Flurin Herren
Fully Spectral
2 years ago
Steven.Lacava
Steven.LacavaSingle Emitter
posted in People & Pointers
Tech Tip Tuesday Cell Phone Design 10-18-2022

Tech Tip Tuesday Cell Phone Design 10-18-2022 There was a time when a phone was used to make calls, now it keeps track of our appointments, allows us to shop from virtually anywhere, read emails, and watch pointless cat videos. The one feature most people rave about when it comes to phones though is oddly not the phone part at all, it is the camera most people are concerned about. Given the amount of real estate cell phone makers dedicate to their cameras, and the amount of resources that go into developing them, the major brands are also concerned about cameras. This brings optics to the forefront and a cell phone has a lot of unique design challenges. We have high expectations of our phones, after all we carry them everywhere. They need to perform in all weather conditions, every type of lighting and not be damaged from shock, vibration or general carelessness. A tall order for any product, but to do all that and stay within the tolerances needed for an optical system, it is a very t

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Steven.Lacava
1 year ago
E
Zemax Staff
Erin.ElliottZemax Staff
posted in People & Pointers
The easiest way to tolerance an off-axis mirror

Many off-axis mirrors are constructed using an off-axis aperture on a “parent” mirror.  This can make tolerancing difficult, since the perturbations must be applied at the vertex of the off-axis aperture.  Tolerancing can be easily and correctly set up using the Composite surface and Tilt/Decenter tool in OpticStudio, as shown below for an off-axis parabola (OAP).In this OAP file, the parent is shifted down from the stop so that the gut ray (at Px=Py=Hx=Hy=0) strikes the vertex of the off-axis mirror.  We have set the global coordinate reference to the parent mirror, and used RAGX/Y/Z operands in the Merit Function to locate the vertex of the off-axis part.An off-axis parabola created by adding an off-axis aperture to a parent parabolaTo prepare for tolerancing, we use the vertex coordinates to set up a pivot about the off-axis vertex, using the Tilt/Decenter Elements tool (located in the toolbar of the Lens Data Editor).  We insert two Composite surfaces before the OAP, and use the Se

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E
Zemax Staff
10 months ago
Michael.Young
Michael.YoungVisible
posted in People & Pointers
Global design of an off-the-shelf objective lens with no a priori design and macro-enabled optimization

My article on global lens design and using commercial off-the-shelf lenses was recently published. This was my “swan song” before taking my current position. Here is a link to the article. There are resources included for the ZPL code. Hope you enjoy.https://doi.org/10.1117/1.OE.61.10.105104AbstractSynthesis of original optical designs is a challenging endeavor for novice lens designers. It is made more difficult when attempting to design a compound lens from off-the-shelf lenses. All but the simplest compound lenses resist ready analysis or understanding from a first-principles approach of geometric optics; however, many optical design packages include powerful optimization algorithms for both local and global searches. Despite the power of these tools, the initial construction of a starting lens and merit function remains crucial to the effective utilization of the optimizer. A workflow is presented for a generic starting design, construction of the merit function, and the optimizati

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Michael.Young
1 year ago
Mark.Nicholson
Luminary
Mark.NicholsonLuminary
posted in People & Pointers
OS 22.2 Seems a bit light

Hey Zemax team,You know I love you guys dearly, but the 22.2 OpticStudio release seems awfully light. Two features only, one of which was in the 22.1 release?Looking forward to a bumper 22.3 release!Mark

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Mark.Nicholson
Luminary
2 years ago
Michael Cheng
Zemax Staff
Michael ChengZemax Staff
posted in People & Pointers
Zemax - Lumerical RCWA dynamic linking updates & known bugs

Japanese version: Zemax OpticStudio - Lumerical RCWA 動的連携 DLL の アップデートと既知のバグ情報 | Zemax Community1. Overview This post provides the following two contents:Maintaining a list of improvements & bugfixes history. Users can easily check when and what problems are solved and what improvements were made. Gathering feedbacks or a place for users to discuss.:)For details of how to use this feature, see the following knowledge base article:Dynamic workflow between Lumerical RCWA and Zemax OpticStudioFor downloading the plugin for legacy versions, see the following community post: 2. Useful ResourcesDynamic workflow between Lumerical RCWA and Zemax OpticStudio Exit Pupil Expander with 1D-2D Gratings RCWA Solver - Simulation Object RCWA Solver Introduction 3. Beta version downloadDLL: Dynamic Link RCWA | Zemax Community 4. Bugfixes and improvementsEmpty Lumerical windowsThere was a rule in the plugin where the Lumerical window will be reopened for every 500 calls for RCWA calculation. This doe

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Michael Cheng
Zemax Staff
1 year ago
S
Luminary
Sandrine AuriolLuminary
posted in People & Pointers
How to model a Faraday rotator/ isolator

Faraday rotators are polarization rotators. The state of polarization (such as the axis of linear polarization or the orientation of elliptical polarization) is rotated as the wave traverses the device (link). The tricky thing when modeling Faraday rotators is the apparent non-reciprocal optical propagation. The ray back through the rotator does not undo the rotation of the first pass, but instead adds to it. This can be modelled with Jones Matrices and the Consider Objects type rule, so that light going one way sees one JM, and light going the other sees the other. I have set up an example attached that shows how it can be done (seq and non seq).In non-sequential, the optical set-up is like this:  Source Ray --> Jones Matrix (Forward and Backward) --> Rectangle (MIRROR)The source only considers the Forward Jones Matrix when sending light. When light is reflected on the rectangle, the Rectangle only consider the backward Jones Matrix.  This can be checked in the Ray Database View

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S
Luminary
2 years ago
D
Zemax Staff
David.VegaZemax Staff
posted in People & Pointers
Updated Export to Speos Lens System in 22.3

Have you wondered how your optical system designed in OpticStudio will behave in the real 3D world? Ansys Speos can take your OpticStudio model and fully simulate your system in a 3D environment, including some environmental challenges such as rain and fog. But we all know that modeling an entire optical system in a complete 3D digital environment can be computationally costly. To reduce modeling expenditure for preliminary studies, we are introducing the Export to Speos Lens System (SLS) in OpticStudio 22.3.The SLS is a reduced-order model of your optical system based on a camera obscura model where the exported optical system acts as an optical transfer function. Therefore, the SLS does not carry all the information for complete modeling of the imaging capabilities. Still, it can provide valuable insights early in the design process, such as perceived image quality and irradiance models. The SLS can deliver these results within less than five minutes saving time during preliminary an

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D
Zemax Staff
1 year ago
Steven.Lacava
Steven.LacavaSingle Emitter
posted in People & Pointers
Tech Tip Tuesday: Photolithography & STAR 5-10-22

       Tech Tip Tuesday 5-10-22 Photolithography; a workflow with STAR & Fluent Photolithography can be used to pattern wafers for semiconductor applications today, but it’s history goes back a lot further than that. Around the time that Joseph Niepce a French inventor created the halftone process for photography, two French printers Alfred Lemercier and Alphonse Poitevin began putting it to use experimenting with photolithography. The technique originally involved a stone plate with water and light, which is where the name comes from, it is Greek, photo = litho, and graphy = stone. The technique of photolithography would be used for engraving from the 1800’s through the 1900’s. By the 1950’s Jay Lathrop and James Nall who were working for the military at a group that would later become part of the ARL (Army Research Laboratory) would use the technique to miniaturize electronic circuits, giving us the first application of how we use it with semiconductors today.The process used for

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Steven.Lacava
2 years ago
Xu Chen
Xu ChenMonochrome
posted in People & Pointers
ROC (radius of curvature) can be divided in half on the parabolic mirror between the add-on and base composite surfaces, but not Spherical surface

Hi Zemax community, a question regarding why ROC (radius of curvature) can be divided in half on the parabolic mirror between the add-on and base composite surfaces while keeping the perfect focus, but not the same case for the spherical surface type, is often asked. Here we will give an on-axis mirror example to demonstrate the math correlation behind this concept.  First, let’s start with an on-axis spherical mirror (Example file: 1_SphericalMirror.ZAR): In this example, the incident rays originating from the center of sphere curvature are reflected by the spherical mirror surface, back along the original way. The radius of curvature and back focal length is -100mm. No optical aberration is introduced in this example, the spot diameter will be perfect.  Fig 1. Spherical mirror layout  Now let’s make a comparative file with an add-on composite surface at the front of the base spherical surface (Example file: 2_SphericalMirror_WithAddOnComposite.ZAR). To main the same EFL as the first

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Xu Chen
1 year ago
Michael Cheng
Zemax Staff
Michael ChengZemax Staff
posted in People & Pointers
Visualize the polarization direction for different references

In the Help file, we can find the following description.The Setup Tab > System Group (the Setup Tab) > System Explorer > Polarization (System Explorer) > Defining the Initial Polarization These can be visulzied as below. The pythone code to draw is this provded for reference.Enjoy!

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Michael Cheng
Zemax Staff
2 years ago
Christophe.Weisse
Christophe.WeisseInfrared
asked in People & Pointers
How to tolerance for coma ?

This question came up in a support call, as coma was clearly the worst offender in the system.The strategy here is to use the Merit Function value and use it as the criterion for tolerancing.The issue is that the COMA operand is calculated from the Seidel coefficients, and is not valid for non paraxial systems. The values are then not accurate for systems with tilts & decenters, and can then not be used for tilt & decenter tolerance analyses.The solution is to use the formula used by the Full Field Aberration tool: As described in the help file, the coma computation is using Zernike terms:We can then build the Merit Function accordingly: The quadratic sum operand QSUM is the only one to have a non-zero weight, the value of the Merit Function will then return the coma. 

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Christophe.Weisse
9 months ago
Christophe.Weisse
Christophe.WeisseInfrared
asked in People & Pointers
How to perform surface tilt & decenter (& surface irregularities) tolerancing in non-sequential mode ?

For some use-cases it is more convenient to use pure non-sequential mode, for multi-pass systems for instance. Performing a tolerance analysis for surface tilts & decenters is not available with standard non-sequential tolerance operands:TNPS can be used of course for element tilt & decenter, TNPA can be used to tolerance the object parameter values, but surface tilt/decenter is not a parameter for most non-sequential geometries (standard lens, even asphere, for instance)An option is then to use the compound lens object, together with Biconic Zernike Surfaces:The Biconic Zernike Surfaces can be used to model a wide range of lens shapes, from standard to biconic, aspheres and Zernike Standard Sag Surface, as their sag is a combination of those sag definitions:The other benefit of using this particular type of surface is that it also has tilts & decenters parameters:Zernike terms Z2/Z3 can be used for X/Y tilts, for each surface, Biconic Zernike Surfaces have built-in X/Y dec

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Christophe.Weisse
9 months ago
Steven.Lacava
Steven.LacavaSingle Emitter
posted in People & Pointers
Tech Tip Tuesday Multi-Physics

Tech Tip Tuesday 7-12-22 Multi-Physics ApplicationWith the right combination of the Ansys software suite including, OpticStudio and STAR. It is possible to integrate optics with other physics, such as finite element analysis (FEA), computational fluid dynamics (CFD), particulate motion, thermal analysis, optimization tools, and more. Below is an example of a multi-physics workflow for a high power laser. Similar workflows are possible for many applications.  In addition to having in depth analysis of all the physics involved with tools such as Fluent, Mechanical and WorkBench, it is possible to export the FEA and CFD data in a way that OpticStudio can use to continue the optical design.After running the your studies including structural, thermal and CFD, bring it full circle to OpticStudio via the STAR module. To do this as effortlessly as possible, try our ACT file extension for Ansys Mechanical, it allows the data to be exported in a format STAR will recognize with minimal work from

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Steven.Lacava
2 years ago
David
Luminary
DavidLuminary
posted in People & Pointers
Convert to NSC Group is wonderful

Every time I use Convert to NSC Group I’m amazed at how useful it is. I well remember life without it. Thank you for the gift that keeps on giving. And Merry Christmas to all!

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David
Luminary
9 months ago
E
Zemax Staff
Erin.ElliottZemax Staff
posted in People & Pointers
Asphericity of aspheric and freeform parts

Asphericity is a useful value when manufacturing an asphere or a freeform surface.  It is typically defined as the distance between the smallest best-fit sphere (BFS) that touches the surface without intersecting and the ideal surface shape, as sketched below.  (The BFS usually contacts the surface at one radial location; in the part sketched below, the BFS contacts the part at the outer edge.) OpticStudio can return both the BFS and the asphericity using the Surface Sag map and/or the DSAG operand in the Merit Function.  Choose Analyze/Surface/Sag to open the Sag map of the surface and then set “Remove” to “Best Fit Sphere” with the “Minimum Volume” option, as shown below.  The peak-to-valley of the resulting plot is the asphericity.  The radius of curvature of the minimum volume BFS is also listed.Use the Surface Sag map to find the asphericity of a surface.Both values can also be retrieved using the DSAG operand with Remove = 2 and BFS = 0.  Data = 2 retrieves the P-V of the sag map

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E
Zemax Staff
9 months ago

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