Our first product is a Matlab graphical user interface (GUI) for thin-lens design.
See the video below. Roland Shack at the University of Arizona created a diagram,
discussed in John Greivenkamp's OPTI 502 class, which provides a helpful
visualization of the parameter space of a thin-lens imaging system. We have
extended the diagram to cover systems with more than one lens.
Advantages include:
- Better visualization of parameter space - the relationships and tradeoffs between focal
lengths, object/lens/image locations, and magnifications.
- No other product provides this visualization.
- Shows not just static relationships, but sensitivities to perturbation.
- Shows where the relationships asymptote and the design becomes less interesting.
- Helps a designer understand why an otherwise opaque automated computer
optimization steers a design to a particular region of parameter space.
- Useful graphics for project reviews to illustrate why a particular design
point was chosen.
- One parameter (focal length of first thin lens) is normalized out.
This facilitates system design with one less parameter, making the design
easier to "solve." Near the end of the design process, this focal length may be
chosen to satisfy separate constraints and simply "plugged in."
The video below may be expanded to full-screen.