ZEMAX Users' Knowledge Base - Articles - Ray Tracing Theory

Understanding the MTF Operands

no@spam.com (Mark Nicholson) — Mon, 07 May 2007 00:00:00 PDT

This article explains the operation of the MTF operands, and the choice of sampling schemes and algorithms available

What is Virtual Propagation?

no@spam.com (Mark Nicholson) — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 00:00:00 PST

Question: What does it mean to do a virtual propagation of rays?

What is an "Effective F-Number"?

no@spam.com (Ronian Siew) — Wed, 28 Sep 2005 00:00:00 PDT

This article explains:

The meaning of F-Number for optical systems with non-circular stops
The theoretical basis for the defined effective F-Number in Zemax

What is a ray?

no@spam.com (Ken Moore) — Mon, 25 Jul 2005 00:00:00 PDT

This article explains:

What a ray is
Rays and wavefronts
Coordinates, cosines, and propagation
Refraction, reflection, and diffraction
Amplitude. phase and optical path

This article is also available in Japanese.

What is a Point Spread Function?

no@spam.com (Ken Moore) — Fri, 22 Jul 2005 00:00:00 PDT

This article explains:

What is a Point Spread Function?
The spot diagram
The FFT PSF
The Huygens PSF
How to observe the Huygens integration using a Non-Sequential lens and detector
How to choose between using the Huygens and FFT based PSF for a sequential lens

The article is accompanied by a ZIP archive containing the sample ZEMAX files used. This can be downloaded from the final page of the article.

This article is also available in Japanese.

Understanding Paraxial Ray-Tracing

no@spam.com (Mark Nicholson) — Thu, 21 Jul 2005 00:00:00 PDT

This article explains:

What paraxial rays are
What parabasal rays are
Differences between them that can cause confusion

The article is accompanied by a ZIP archive containing the samples used and a macro. This can be downloaded from the final page of the article.

This article is also available in Japanese.