ZEMAX Users' Knowledge Base - Articles - Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Best Way to Reference a Surface or Object in ZPL?

no@spam.com (Mark Nicholson) — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 16:30:00 PDT

Question: What is the best way to reference a surface or object in ZPL, so that the macro still works when surfaces/objects are inserted or deleted, and the numbering changes?

How do I Account for Energy Losses When Performing a Sequential Ghost Analysis?

no@spam.com (Akash Arora) — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 14:30:00 PDT

Question: When using the ghost focus generator tool, how can I properly account for the energy in a ghosted path?

Where Can I Get LED Optical Data in ZEMAX format?

no@spam.com (Mark Nicholson) — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 16:00:00 PDT

Question: Where can I obtain optical performance data for the LEDs I want to use in my design?

When Should I use the Huygens Integral in the Fiber Coupling Calculation?

no@spam.com (Mark Nicholson) — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 15:30:00 PDT

Question: In the Fiber Coupling Efficiency Calculation under Analysis...Calculation...Fiber Coupling Efficiency, when should one use the Huygens Integral and when should one not?

How is Radiant Intensity Defined?

no@spam.com (Mark Nicholson) — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 16:00:00 PDT

Question: The Help file defines Radiant Intensity as “The incoherent intensity of the ray in cosine space (Radiant Intensity) This is the sum of the ray intensity divided by the solid angle subtended by the pixel." The question I have is how this solid angle subtended by the pixel is defined?

What Computer Should I Buy to Run ZEMAX?

no@spam.com (Mark Nicholson) — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 00:00:00 PST

Updated December 2007. This article explains how to choose a workstation for running ZEMAX on. It concentrates on:

Choice of Processors
Amount of Memory
Graphics Card
Some other Frequently Asked Questions about computers

How To Submit Vendor Data To Be Distributed With ZEMAX

no@spam.com (Mark Nicholson) — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 00:00:00 PST

This article explains how to submit test plate, lens and glass catalog data for distribution with ZEMAX.

What Are The S and P Polarization States?

no@spam.com (Mark Nicholson) — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 00:00:00 PDT

Question: What are the S and P polarization states, and how do I enter a beam that is s-polarized?

How To Determine Which Glass Catalog Is Being Used

no@spam.com (Andrew Locke) — Thu, 10 May 2007 00:00:00 PDT

This article explains how to determine which glass catalog is being used as the source of the glass data for a specific surface/object. This is especially important when multiple glass catalogs are loaded containing one or more glasses with the same name.

How To Convert FWHM Measurements to 1/e Squared

no@spam.com (Dan Hill) — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 00:00:00 PDT

Sometimes, manufacturers provide Gaussian beam data as FWHM measurements. This article describes how to convert FWHM measurements to 1 over e squared measurements, which are used by ZEMAX.

This article is also available in Japanese.