ZEMAX Users' Knowledge Base - Articles - First Time Users

How to Perform a Tolerance Analysis

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

This article provides an overview of the entire process of tolerancing a lens. It is the first article you should read in the Tolerancing category if you are new to tolerancing.

How To Model a Mixed Sequential/Non-Sequential System

no@spam.com (Dan Hill) — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 00:00:00 PDT

This article outlines the procedure for modeling a mixed mode system in ZEMAX, which utilizes both sequential surfaces and non-sequential objects in the same lens file. The following topics are discussed in detail.

Inserting/Creating a non-sequential group within an otherwise sequential design.
Defining entry and exit port locations, shapes, and sizes.
Common mistakes and considerations.

How to Use the Quick Adjust Tool and Slider

no@spam.com (Mark Nicholson) — Mon, 31 Jul 2006 00:00:00 PDT

The Quick Adjust tool is invaluable during early system setup, letting you easily adjust important surface data to achieve a variety of conditions. This article describes how to use it, and its related feature, the Slider.

How to Design Afocal Systems

no@spam.com (Mark Nicholson) — Wed, 14 Sep 2005 00:00:00 PDT

This article explains:

what an afocal system is
how to optimize such systems
how to get data from afocal systems in angular units
how to handle cylindrical systems
how to handle systems with multiple focal and afocal spaces

The article includes a zip archive containing sample files, which can be downloaded from the link on the last page of this article.

This article is also available in Japanese.

How to Create a Simple Non-Sequential System

no@spam.com (Nam-Hyong Kim) — Tue, 23 Aug 2005 00:00:00 PDT

This article explains:

How to enter and edit non-sequential objects in the non-sequential editor
How to draw rays on the layout plots to get a qualitative feel for the optical system performance
How to trace large numbers of rays to get quantitative data on system performance

The lens file representing the final system is included as zipped file, which can be downloaded from the last page of this article.

How to Tilt and Decenter a Sequential Optical Component

no@spam.com (Mark Nicholson) — Tue, 26 Jul 2005 00:00:00 PDT

This article explains:

What coordinate break surfaces are, and how they work
How to use the Global Vertex report to check your work
Why coordinate break surfaces usually come in pairs
Why coordinate break surfaces have to be co-located
How to do all this the easy, simple, fun way

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.

How To Design a Singlet Lens

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

This article explains:

Modifying system settings, including System Aperture, Lens Units, Fields and Wavelengths
Entering lens prescription data
Using solves to enforce design contraints
Analyzing system performance prior to optimization
Determining degrees of freedom and setting variables
Setting up a default merit function
Optimizing and analyzing final design performance